New Delhi: Days after Union Power Ministry has suggested to the States and Union Territories (UTs) to import coal to meet the rising power demand, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Thursday raised questions over such an advisory. The federation, a commemoration of all power engineers working in power utilities under central and state governments, has raised serious questions after the power ministry once again issued instructions to the state government power generating houses and private sector powerhouses to import coal to increase the supply of coal in times of coal crisis.
The federation questioned that if importing coal is the solution to the problem, then why are the big power plants of private houses running on imported coal closed in today's power crisis. The federation said that till adequate arrangements are made to transport domestic coal to the power stations, it should be clarified by the Ministry, how the imported coal will reach the thermal power stations from the ports. In a letter addressed to the States and UTs, the power ministry has recently asked them to import 22.049 million tonnes of coal from thermal power stations in the state and 15.936 million tonnes from private power sector stations.
"On one hand, the Union Power Ministry is pressurizing the state government thermal power plants to import coal, on the other hand, no instructions have been given in the said letter to Adani's 4600 MW thermal power plant at Mundra, Tata's 4000 MW thermal power station at Mundra in Gujarat and Adani's 1200 MW Udipi thermal power plant in Karnataka which run on imported coal. The names of these power stations are also not mentioned in the letter of the Ministry of Power, whereas these power stations are on the sea coast and it is easy for them to get imported coal. These power stations are closed after the price of imported coal has increased in the international market," said AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey to ETV Bharat. He said that Adani has an agreement with Haryana to provide 1424 MW of electricity for 25 years, but Adani has stopped giving electricity to Haryana since August last year.
Referring to coal, India claims that it has produced 15.6 percent more coal than last year. Dubey said this produced coal is not reaching thermal power stations due to a lack of railway rakes. "Passenger trains are being canceled across the country, yet coal is not reaching destined spots. In such a situation, even if coal is imported, then the imported coal will come to the ports, and in the absence of railway rakes from the ports, how will this coal reach the thermal power stations is a big question," said Dubey. As per the order issued by the ministry of power, all thermal power stations have to issue purchase orders for imported coal by May 31, 2022, and 50 percent delivery by June 30, 2022, 40 percent by August 31, 2022, and the remaining 10 percent delivery is to be ensured by October 31, 2022.
"From the Ministry's directives, it is very clear that the coal crisis is very serious and it is yet to go on for several months," said Dubey. He said that the Anpara thermal power station of Uttar Pradesh State Power Generation has been given a target of importing 853000 tonnes and Obra, Harduaganj, and Parichha thermal power station to import 1286000 tonnes of coal. Meanwhile, according to the 19th Electric Power Survey (EPS) report that covers electricity demand projection for the years 2016-17 to 2026-27 as well as perspective electricity demand projection for the year 2031-32 and 2036-37 for each State stated that India is adding to its power generation capacity.
As per the study carried out by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the all of India installed capacity is likely to increase from the present installed capacity of 3,95,607.86 MW as of February 28, 2022, to 8,17,254 MW as on March 31, 2030, which will be adequate to meet the electricity demand by 2030. As on February 28 this year, a total of about 252.899 Gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity (including large hydro) has been installed in the country. The non fossil fuel based generation capacity (including renewable energy) is expected to be around 500 MW by the year 2030.
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