Lagatar24 Desk
Despite being the second largest coal producer in the world, there is a severe shortage of coal in the country these days. This has created a power crisis in the north, central and northeastern states. That is, more than half of India is facing power cuts. Experts related to the power sector say that the possibility of getting rid of the power crisis by Diwali is very less. According to power experts, coal mines were badly affected during the second wave of Corona, while power generation in power plants did not stop even for a day. That is, the demand for coal remained intact, but the supply stopped.
Corona is also a major reason for the power crisis. In fact, during the peak (April-May) of Corona, pre-monsoon preparations and maintenance could not be done in the mines. On the other hand, electricity demand grew by 16% in August-September. Again in September, due to heavy rains in the coal-producing regions, the mines were flooded. Due to this, coal supply was stalled for several days in September like April-May.
The ongoing overwork in the industry increased the industrial demand for electricity to compensate for the losses incurred during the Corona period. The daily demand for electricity exceeded 4 billion units. Of this, 65-70% of the electricity comes from coal based power plants alone. In the first 8 days of October, the power supply could be 11.5% less than the demand.
Shailendra Dubey, chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation, said that never before have seen such shortage of coal and power crisis in power plants. Normally these days the demand for electricity starts declining, but during the first week of October, the average demand was 170,000 MW, which is 15,000 MW more than last year. For this reason, electricity is being sold in Uttar Pradesh up to Rs 21 per unit. The condition of electricity crises in the different states are as follows-
Uttar Pradesh: 8 production units are closed, causing a power shortage of 2700 MW. Power cuts of 4-5 hours daily.
Madhya Pradesh: Demand of 10 thousand MW, production is only 2300 MW. That means, production is less than half of the capacity. In the second week of October 2020, there was 15.86 lakh tones of coal, now it is 5.92 lakh tones.
Rajasthan: Demand of 12,500 MW but generation is 8,500 MW, 7 units are closed. 11 rakes of coal are required daily, but the state is getting 7-8 rakes at present.
