India witnesses peak power deficit of over 9,000 MW in April: CEA

10 Jun 2013 Evaluate

Scarcity of coal continued to haunt electricity generation, which led India to witness a peak power shortage of over 9,000 MW in April this year. As per the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the peak power deficit, or shortage in electricity supply when the demand is at its highest, stood at 6.9 percent or 9,020 MW in the month of April. The peak power demand in the country during the month of April stood at 130,676 MW of which 121,656 MW was met.

State-wise, the worst sufferers were Jammu & Kashmir that recorded a deficit of 25 percent, followed by Bihar (20.8 percent) and Karnataka (18.7 percent). According to the CEA, scarcity of coal continued to haunt electricity generation and around 19 power stations in the country had coal stocks for less than a week. 

On the other hand, the western region comprising states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Goa suffered the least with 1.4 percent shortage. The western region's demand of power during the month was 37,763 MW and 37,232 MW electricity was received.

In India, electricity is produced with the help of coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Currently, the resources allocated to energy supply are not sufficient for narrowing the gap between energy needs and energy availability. As on March, 2011 country's estimated coal reserves were at about 286 billion tonnes, lignite at 81 billion tonnes, crude oil at 757 million tonnes and natural gas at 1,241 billion cubic metre (BCM).

Around 83% of thermal power is generated using coal as a raw material whereas 16% of thermal power is generated with the help of Gas and 1% of thermal power is generated with the help of Oil. Coal was already being imported for thermal plants and the import of LNG and production of shale gas could be the options for gas-based power generating stations in the long term.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×