'The shortage of coal at power plants is different from shortage of coal in the country'

An escalating coal crisis made India’s power ministry step in and allay fears of electricity disruption across the country. In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said coal dispatches were constrained due to a prolonged monsoon, panning reports that power stations had an average of four days’ worth of coal at the end of last month, the lowest level in years.

India's thermal power stations are reportedly operating with coal stocks at alarmingly low levels. On October 6, as much as 133 GW of India's monitored 165 GW coal base capacity operated with low inventory. Plants with a capacity of about 90 GW had reportedly less than four days of stock.

States such as Maharashtra and Delhi have raised concerns over long power cuts due to shortage of coal in power plants. Chhattisgarh-based lawyer and activist Sudiep Shrivastava claims the shortage is not true; India has enough coal but state-run power generators may not have enough stock due to various factors.

Shrivastava was one of the petitioners behind what is popularly known as the ‘coal scam’ that led to a landmark Supreme Court judgment in September 2014 declaring coal block allocation process arbitrary and illegal.

He has moved the Supreme Court opposing mining at densely-forested coal blocks, arguing that since less than 15% of coal in India is in densely-forested areas, it need not be exploited to meet coal demand. This includes Parsa coal block in the Hasdeo forest, allotted to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, a power corporation under the Rajasthan government. RRVUNL, in turn, has appointed Adani Enterprises Limited to carry out the mining operations.
Shrivastava, in an interview to Aparna Kalra, pointed out why the coal shortage is not a shortage at all.

Does India face a coal shortage which could lead to power outages?
Last year, coal production in six months between April to September was 282 million tonne, this year it is 315 million tonne, so that is a rise of 12%. Coal production or dispatch has not been affected much even in Covid era. PSUs were running.
Production usually goes down in monsoon but we are already 315 million tonne, more than last year. Coal production was 730 million in 2019-20. In 2020-21, there was only 2% decline due to Covid times. This year we are going to touch 720 million tonne at least.

Why are power companies saying there is a coal shortage?
There is a certain amount of coal sold by Coal India in e-auction, certain coal supplied under Fuel Supply Agreements or FSAs. E-auction price is over and above FSA. Power producers situated in coastal areas don’t want complete FSA since they want to play on international and domestic price. Imported coal has low ash and high heat. In imported coal, 500 gm of coal generates one kilocalorie of power; in Indian coal, 700 gms is needed to generate one unit of electricity. Those who import coal (now that global coal prices are rising), want Indian coal at cheaper price. Also, certain discoms have not paid dues to state-run power generation companies, in turn, generation companies fail to pay Coal India. That also creates a supply disruption.
Power ministry is not coming out with the list of power plants who have only four days of coal supply left. If a power producer has shortage in Chhattisgarh or Odisha at pit head, then there is nothing to worry because coal can reach in 3-6 hours. Even if it is power plant in coastal Gujarat, it will take maximum three days for railways to take coal.

So where is the massive coal shortage and power crunch?
We need to tap power other than coal based. We have 46,000 megawatt hydel power, 44,000 solar and 39,000 wind; so all this capacity has nothing to do with coal. Why we are not asking discoms to utilize these?

Are discoms equipped to use these alternate sources of power?
Last year (20-21), 1386 billion units was total generation of power. We utilize coal power more; 56% installed capacity is coal or lignite. But generation is 76% is coal and lignite. So we are not utilising wind, hydel, and solar at full capacity or even half capacity.
Now, let me tell you: 3,86,000 megawatt is our installed capacity ; peak demand has not crossed 2 lakh megawatt. So where is the danger of outage unless you yourself want to mess it up?
Commercial coal auction is not fetching good price so a shortage for coal has to be created. And private players want coal-rich land where they pay compensation later and start mining earlier by amending the Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and Development Act 1957 which is already a draconian law.
The dilution of forest and environment norms is also being sought constantly by private players.
Since the future of coal is not very impressive due to the climate emergency, this (free run to private players) will, in the long run, hamper Coal India. There is a complaint in every mining proposal on grounds of environment, but government is not holding up any private mine. Adani was allowed to enhance capacity despite the Supreme Court case. The Gram Sabha resolution of Parsa mine is untrue, people are walking 300 kms to oppose that.. CIL mine Gevra capacity enhancement has been held up on similar complaints.