(ET)
Power minister R K Singh insists that there is no coal shortage and states need to import coal to plug the mismatch between rise in electricity demand and fuel supply snags caused by spike in global prices. The good news is that our economy has bounced back strongly, and we are seeing a 15% increase in electricity demand. Coal production capacity has grown but not so fast as it takes almost three years to start a mine. Simultaneously, international prices of coal shot up from around $40 to $140 a tonne. All our imported coal-based plants, with around 17,000-megawatt capacity, became too expensive. Coal available for blending suddenly came down — from around 24 million tonnes in 2019 to around 8 million tonnes last year. The entire shortage is 16 million tonnes. We have asked generation companies (gencos) and the states to go back to blending, at least 10%, although I am pushing for 15%.
