TALCHER: As the country stares at an unprecedented energy crisis, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is under tremendous pressure to supply coal to the power stations dependant on it.
A leading subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), MCL has not only hiked its daily production but also increased per day offtake considering the looming power crisis due to acute shortage of coal.
MCL feeds coal to power stations of 12 states including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana. Sources said most of the power stations in these states have coal stockpile for an average of four days against the normal requirement of more than 10 days.
A coal official said less coal drawal by consumers in the past and sudden hike in electricity demand after the second Covid wave when there was no encouraging output by hydel and wind power in the country, led to the current crisis situation. In Odisha, the 3,000 MW Talcher-Kaniha and OPGC power plants are in critical state with very low coal stock.
The official said MCL has a coal stock of about 14.5 million tonne of which Hingula mine has six million tonne. An average of five lakh tonne coal is being dispatched to power stations daily. Last year, the dispatch was four lakh tonne per day.
MCL sources said on Sunday, the company supplied 5.34 lakh tonne coal to consumers. The highest of 62 rakes were supplied from Talcher Coalfields. MCL has maintained an average of more than half-a-million tonne coal supply to consumers during the current month.
At least 95 rakes carrying coal to consumers were dispatched from Talcher and Ib Valley coalfields while 23 rakes supplied through merry-go-round (MGR). This apart, 1.4 lakh tonne coal was dispatched through road.
Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of MCL PK Sinha said, “We have to continue our efforts at the same pace to ensure that consumers have enough coal.”
Sinha is constantly monitoring coal production and dispatch while directors are frequently visiting coalfields to hike output and offtake.
MCL has so far produced about 75 million tonne coal and dispatched more than 85 million tonne to different consumers. It has a coal production target of 163 million tonne and dispatch of 182 million tonne.