The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has stated that nearly half of the thermal power plants in the country are reeling under coal shortage with stocks to last less than a week. The CEA, in its latest report highlighted that out of the total 100 coal-based generating plants in country, 46 plants reported fuel stock for less than 7 days.
The CEA reported that NTPC, the country's largest power producer and also the biggest consumer of domestic coal, is the worst sufferer as 8 plants with capacity at 20,940 MW of its total 23 electricity generating stations have stock to last mere two days. Further, the CEA highlighted that NTPC plants are affected mainly due to lesser supplies by Coal India. The public sector firm Coal India and its subsidiaries are supplying lesser fuel to the power utility plants than the annual contracted quantity (ACQ).
As coal-fired plants account for 59% of India's installed electricity capacity, coal shortage in the country has become a concern for Indian power sector. India, despite being world's fifth largest in terms of reserves and the third-largest producer of coal, has failed to keep pace with increasing domestic demand. Indian domestic coal demand is around 35 percent higher than domestic supply, resulting into a high deficit of which a huge part is being met by costly imports from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. Coal India (CIL) is the only producer of coal in the country and is struggling to meet domestic coal requirements. CIL production fell 4.21 percent short of its production target to 462.53 million tonnes in FY14 amid concerns like shutdown of mining activities in Talcher Coalfields in Odisha. The government has set coal production target at 507 million tonnes for Coal India (CIL) for FY15.