The Union Power Ministry has asked the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to determine the amount of domestic coal that is eligible for power plants using coal under the ‘Shakti B‘ special auction window, taking into account 10% imported coal for blending, which is equivalent to about 15% of domestic coal in terms of energy.
The ‘Shakti B ‘ window allows power plants with untied capacity to bid for coal, generate power with the coal from this window, and sell it in the exchange’s Day-Ahead Market (DAM) or DEEP portal for short-term power purchase agreements.”For such plants, the Ministry has asked CEA to compute the quantity of coal utilized (procured under SHAKTI B window) on the basis of obligatory blending of 10% by weight for generation between June 15, 2022, and March 31, 2023,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, these plants would have three-week opportunity to purchase imported coal.
In April, the ministry instructed all power production businesses, including independent power producers, to blend 10% of imported coal for power generation due to rising power demand and a lack of native coal to meet it.In order to increase electricity supply, the Centre has given a number of directions to states and gencos. The government issued directives to gencos on May 27th, stating that electricity generation must be maximized due to rising power demand and power shortages in some places.
According to the ministry, despite attempts to enhance domestic coal supply, there is still a disparity between demand and supply, which is causing coal reserves at generating stations to deplete at an alarming rate.”On 18 May, the power ministry issued instructions to all gencos that if orders for import of coal for blending are not placed by 31 May and imported coal for blending purposes does not start arriving at power plants by 15 June, defaulter gencos will have to import coal for blending purpose to the extent of 15% in the remaining period up to October,” according to a ministry statement on 27 May.
The ministry recently announced that it is working on a system that would allow electricity distribution businesses to pay financial dues to gencos in convenient installments without incurring a late payment premium. According to the CEA’s most recent data, the total coal stock in the 173 power plants under its jurisdiction stood at 21.16 million tonnes on May 26th, accounting for 33% of the needed inventory of 66.49 million tonnes. As many as 82 domestic coal-fired power plants and ten imported coal-fired power plants are surviving on critical stocks, which are less than 25% of the sufficient amount.
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