Domestic power plants blend imported coal with coal from domestic mines to increase its calorific value.
Amid projections of high power demand in summer with the peak demand touching 260 GW, the power ministry has directed all coal-based power generating companies to maintain a 6% imported coal blending at their power plants till June. The ministry, in October last year, had extended the norm till March 2024.
According to the CEA data, the total coal stock in the country’s thermal power plants stands at 47.2 MT as on May 10, 67% of the normative stock requirement of 70.56 MT. As many as 28 plants have critical stocks, including 20 domestic coal based plants and five imported coal based plants.
While coal imports for blending purposes fell owing to the government’s measures to increase domestic supply, imports by plants designed to run on foreign coal increased sharply by 104% to 41.81 MT in the FY23 compared to FY23.
After targeting to eliminate imports of substitutable coal by FY26, the coal ministry is now expected to encourage imported coal-based power plants to make capital investments to run on domestic fuel.
The ministry is set to request power plants run on imported coal to make changes in technologies and design to be able to use domestic coal over the next two years, Union coal minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier said.
