Coal ministry ups fuel supply to power plants

New Delhi: The government Thursday said it has augmented the supply of coal to power plants to meet the country's energy demands.

The development assumes significance as Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy recently met Coal Minister Piyush Goyal and demanded the Centre to ensure immediate supply of coal to Raichur Thermal Power Station.

"Ministry of Coal has increased the coal stock and coal supply to power plants to meet the energy demands in the country," the coal ministry said in a statement.

The coal stock in power plants as on December 31, 2018, was 16.60 million tonnes (MT) as compared with 13.20 MT on December 31, 2017, showing an increase of around 25 per cent. As on December 31, 2018, the number of power plants in the critical/super-critical category was nine, compared with 13 on December 31, 2017.

"The coal stock in power plants on December 31, 2018, was sufficient for 10 days as compared to the coal stock in power plants on December 31, 2017, which was sufficient for nine days," it said.

The supply from Coal India Ltd (CIL) to power plants as on December 30 was 357.5 MT as against 332.03 MT as on December 30, 2017, showing a rise of around 7.7 per cent.

Overall, average Railway Rakes per day to power sectors from April to December 2018 was 251.8. The figure for the corresponding period of last year was 219.7.