Ranchi: Resurrection of economic activities throughout the country after the number of Covid-19 cases resulted in an increase in demand for sudden power and coal, which finally emphasized coal producers, experts here.
If experts are trusted, the coal crisis has recently been related to the supply gap in demand that will gradually return to its path.
While the resumption of industrial and business activities resulted in demand for power, Extended Monsoon plays spoilsport with coal production which feeds around 80% of electricity producers in this country.
Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), Indian Coal Subsidiaries Limited and one of the largest coal producers in this country, has increased its daily production target to 1.80 lakh metric tons and work to increase it to 2 lakh tons.
The largest power manufacturer – National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) – has also increased coal production in the three mines – each at Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
CCL officials claimed that during the second wave, coal demand had diminished.
“We have written a letter to electrical producers to make it difficult for coal mined but do not receive responses from them.
Therefore, we are forced to reduce production into one lakh metric ton per day,” said an official, added that the surge in demand began suddenly Arrived since September when the industry and market began to open.
The source said the manufacturing industry, mostly in West India and was closed during the second wave or a functioning half of capacity.
“Workers began to return when the level of vaccination was taken and the different state government began issuing permits for industrial operations.
Ahead of Durga Puja, economic activities touched the peak,” said Mukesh Kumar, a former member of the Chamber of Commerce here.
The power engineer claims that the coal crisis is also associated with Extended Monsoon this year.
All members of the Indian Power Engineer Federation M P Yadav said the lack of coal supply during Monsoon was a regular feature.
“This year, the situation was exacerbated because the rainy season which resulted in the inundation of most open coal mines, which constituted 70% of coal mines in Jharkhand,” he said.
During the rainy season, coal stock on the yard producers of power often wet produces a reduction in power production.
Yadav further said coal powder at the factory before it was fed to the burner and if it was wet, they turned into a paste producing poor efficiency.
CCL officials also agreed that several open cast mines in Jharkhand were flooded and impossible to mine coal there.
“Monsun generally resigned in the second week of September, but this year, the rain continued until the end of October, resulting in a coal crisis during October,” CCL official said.
Head of CCL Public Relations, Anupam Rana, said the company’s senior official monitored coal production from the fields regularly and the situation had begun to improve.
“We are targeting two daily production of lakh metric tons and has increased it to 1.80 lakh metric tons to date,” he said.
Apart from the claims of coal producers have increased production, shortcomings in the local market continue because most coal is sent to large force producers.
Manufacturer of state-owned power, TENUGHAT VIDYUT NIGAM LIMITED (TVNL) in Bokaro, survived with one day and get coal salaries every day to feed the plant.
CMD TVNL, Anil Kumar Sharma, said they have closed one unit of 210MW since September and requires around 2,700 metric tons of coal to run the second unit of 210 MW.
“We have a stock of around 3,000 metric tons of coal and if there are no supplies for two days, we have to close the factory,” he said.
(With input from Divy Khare in Bokaro)