Forty-five power plants in India are operating with critically low coal inventories, government data showed, as monsoon rains disrupt supplies and electricity demand rises amid hotter-than-usual weather linked to El Niño .
“The uneven monsoon has driven power demand, primarily for air-conditioning. The number of plants with coal stocks below 25% of their required inventory or with critically low stocks to generate power for less than three days has risen sharply from 31 at the end of July, the data as of August 25 showed. Of the affected plants, 40 are domestic coal-fired plants, according to data on the website of Central Electricity Authority, a think tank linked to the federal power ministry. The lower coal stocks come at a time when the South Asian country is headed for its weakest monsoon since 2009, with uneven El Nino-linked rainfall driving up electricity demand in parts of the country. India has received 12% less rainfall than normal so far this monsoon season, leading to greater reliance on coal-fired power generation, particularly during the night when cooling demand remains elevated.
Heavy rainfall in some of the key coal-rich Indian states, including Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh has hit mining and slowed the transportation of the fuel for power plants, industry sources said. But coal supplies are running hand-to-mouth,” an official at the country’s largest thermal power producer, NTPC told Reuters.
