Higher power demand necessitated coal imports, says Power Minister

New Delhi: Addition of 28.6 million consumers under the Saubhagya scheme, good infrastructure and perked up economic activities post COVID-19 pushed up power demand and necessitated coal import, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Power Minister R K Singh said electricity demand has gone up exponentially because of the economic growth post pandemic, the addition of 28.6 million consumers under the Saubhagya scheme and strengthening of the transmission and distribution system, which necessitated coal imports.

He pointed out that the domestic coal production has increased.

The all-India coal production (for all categories of consumers) in 2021-22 was 778.19 million tonne (MT) in comparison to 716.083 MT in 2020-21.

In current financial year (up to June 2022), the country produced 204.876 MT coal as compared to 156.11 MT during the same period last year, he stated.

Considering high demand of domestic coal in thermal power plants and the level of coal stocks in the plants, Ministry of Power on April 28, 2022 issued advisory to generating companies to import coal for blending at the rate of 10 per cent of their requirement.

This would ensure availability of adequate stock in the power plants to cater to their demand during monsoon when the domestic supply of coal reduces.

The minister explained that coal is being imported for blending for the past many years because of its high calorific value. In 2018-19, it was 21.4 MT and went up to 29.8 MT in 2019-20.

The government had advised gencos to reduce imports and rely more on domestic coal, and the import for blending declined to 8.3 MT in 2021-22.