BENGALURU: The coal crisis for the state’s power sector reached a new low on Wednesday with buffer stocks stored by the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) reaching zero. The power generating station, with a capacity of 1720 megawatt distributed among 8 units, is now being forced to run just 4 units while keeping the other 4 shut down. The situation prompted Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to write a letter to Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal asking him to ensure the steady supply to the state as per agreements.
According to the letter, Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), one of the coal supply companies with which the State Government has a tie-up, has not been supplying the agreed upon quota of coal, leading to the shortage. “As of now, we are getting around 16,000 tonnes of coal as against the required supply of 23,000 tonnes daily,” said state Energy Secretary P Ravikumar.
He added that with the reduced supply, RTPS was forced to use the daily supply to run the four functioning units and there was no buffer stock. “We are supposed to maintain a 15-day buffer stock which has now reached zero days. All available coal is being utilised on a daily basis,” he said.
WCL, according to officials, was providing only 43% of the agreed upon amount of coal per day. This has led to depletion of the buffer stock at RTPS. However, chances of a power shortage affecting the state is unlikely immediately as the demand is quite low. On Tuesday, the state consumed 207 Million Units and some units of Ballari Thermal Power Station (BTPS) were also shut because of low demand. However, if the coal shortage continues, there could be a power shortage in the coming days, officials warned.
On Wednesday evening, generation from RTPS was just 566 MW out of the total capacity of 1720 MW. However, the other major thermal power stations, at Yeramarus and Ballari, have around 10 days of stocks left. “Currently, there are no plans to carry out load shedding,” Ravikumar said. Kumaraswamy urged Goyal to make up for the deficit in supply from the Mahanadi Coal Fields, located in Sambalpur, Odisha. Both WCL and MCL are subsidiaries of the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL).