Coal crisis deepens in HTPP, only four days of stock

Korba: The situation is continuously worsening due to lack of adequate coal supply in Hasdeo Thermal Power Plant. Due to non-availability of coal as per daily consumption, coal from stock is being used. Due to this, the coal stock has currently come down to only 95 thousand tonnes. Whereas it should be three lakh tonnes.

The power generation company’s Hasdeo Thermal Power Plant (HTPP) located in Korba West has four units of 210 MW and one unit of 500 MW operating. Coal is supplied to the plant through conveyor belt from SECL’s Kusmunda mine. When all the units are in operation, the plant consumes 20 to 21 thousand tonnes of coal per day. 22 to 23 thousand tonnes of coal is also supplied to the plant through conveyor belt. It is being told that for the last few days, coal is not being supplied regularly to the plant. As per the demand, 17 to 18 thousand tonnes of coal is being supplied. The management has to consume coal from the stock. Due to this, the coal in stock has reduced to 95 thousand tonnes. As per rules, the plant should have 15 days of coal in stock. The management is worried due to only four days of coal and is in talks with SECL management for this, but SECL is not taking any positive initiative. The power company management says that if the coal supply is not increased, a situation may arise where the plant units have to be shut down.

All the units of the HTPP plant are being run at low load. This 1340 MW plant is producing 977 MW of electricity. At the same time, the 500 MW DSPM plant is producing 421 MW and the Madwa plant is producing 784 MW instead of one thousand. In this way, the power company has a total of 2,365 MW of electricity including IPP and CPP. Due to the change in weather, the demand for electricity has come down and the demand remains 4,900 MW during peak hours. Electricity is being provided to consumers by taking the quota of electricity allotted from the central sector. Due to this, a situation of power crisis did not arise.