Coal Imports Cannot Be Reduced To Zero: Power Minister

Union Minister of Power R.K. Singh on Thursday said that power plants are designed for using high calorific value imported coal.  Therefore, the imports of coal for power generation cannot be reduced to zero.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Minister explained Cement, Sponge Iron, Aluminum industries utilise high calorific value low ash imported coal. The coal requirement for such category of consumers cannot be substituted by domestic coal.

He also revealed that India’s thermal power plants could have run out of coal stocks if imports of coal for blending was not done. This would have caused widespread power cuts and black outs in September 2022.

He said that the gap between daily coal consumption and daily arrival of domestic coal ranged from 2.65 lakh tonne to 0.5 lakh tonne between the months of September, 2022 and January, 2023. Therefore, Ministry of Power advised Central, State Gencos and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) on 9 January 2023 to import coal through a transparent competitive procurement for blending so as to have sufficient coal stocks at their power plants for smooth operations till September, 2023.

“With the increase in electricity demand, the supply of coal to the power plants is not commensurate with the domestic coal requirement,” Singh added.