Delhi Power Crisis: AAP Govt Says Less Than 1-Day Stock Left; NTPC Dismisses Coal Shortage Claims | 10 Points

"In normal circumstances, (for smooth supply of energy) coal should be available with the power generating plants as a backup for 21 days. However, today there are many plants in the country that do not have a backup of coal even for a day," Satyendar Jain said.

New Delhi: A day after the Delhi government flagged the issue of a deepening power crisis amid coal shortage that could lead to power cuts in Metro trains and hospitals, the city’s Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said at several power plants, stocks were left for less than a day against the 21-day backup. He urged the Centre to ensure the availability of coal by getting the train racks repaired for smoother and timely transportation of coal to the power generating plants, and said that the power plants in Delhi cannot function with the coal backup of one day.

“In normal circumstances, (for smooth supply of energy) coal should be available with the power generating plants as a backup for 21 days. However, today there are many plants in the country that do not have a backup of coal even for a day,” Jain said addressing a press conference. Adding further, he said that the current peak for power demand in Delhi is 6,000 MW.

Delhi Coal Crisis: 10-Point Cheatsheet to the story

1. Satyendar Jain claimed the current coal crisis was due to the lack of railway racks. “Earlier 450 railway racks were available, now it has been reduced to 405 racks. Better coordination by the Centre is required to avert the crisis,” he said. He also clarified that no payments were pending from Delhi’s side.
2. The Minister also hinted at the problems Delhi might have to face if power plants shut down due to a lack of coal availability.
3. Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for quick, concrete steps to tackle the crisis facing the country.”There is a huge shortage of power in the country. So far we have managed it somehow in Delhi. The situation is very grave in the whole of India. Together we soon need to find a solution. Quick, concrete steps are required to tackle this problem,” Kejriwal tweeted.
4. “Due to disruption of power supply from Dadri-II and Unchahar power stations, there may be a problem in 24-hours power supply to many essential institutions, including Delhi Metro and Delhi government hospitals,” a Delhi government statement read.
5. Earlier in the morning, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited in a series of tweets said that Unchahar and Dadri stations have declared more than 100 per cent rated capacity of the grid. It said that except for one unit of the Unchahar power station, all the other units are running at their full capacity.
6. “Currently #Unchahar and #Dadri stations are declaring more than 100% rated capacity to the grid. All units of Unchahar and Dadri are running at full load except Unchahar Unit#1, which is under annual planned overhaul,” the tweet read.
7. “All the six Units of Dadri and five Units of Unchahar are running at full capacity and receiving regular coal supplies. Present stock is 1,40,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) and 95,000 MT respectively and import coal supplies are also in pipeline,” it added.
8. Amid reports of coal shortage, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi earlier today said that the country’s thermal plants hold about 22 million tonnes of coal which is enough for 10 days and replenishment will be done continuously.
9. “Since gas-based power plant got shut, imported prices hiked, no plant functioned at full capacity. Power Ministry has given directions to start it…our thermal power plants hold 21-22mn tonnes coal, enough for 10 days. Replenishment to be done continuously,” Joshi told reporters.
10. Furthermore, the Union minister said that the demand of power has increased due to demands from various sectors in an economy which was now growing fast after the slowdown caused by COVID-19.