Coal India’s supplies to power sector rise 14% amid surging demand

03 May 2022

It has raised its supplies to thermal power stations by 14.2 percent during the first half of April 2022 compared to the same period last year amid rising demand. CIL’s supplies have hit 1.64 million tonnes (MTs) per day during this period against 1.43 MTs in the same period in April 2021, the company said in a press release. It further added that the company had accelerated its production to 26.4 MTs during the first half of April’22 registering 27 percent year-on-year growth. The company is heading for its highest April production ever. Output expansion in volume terms was 5.7 MTs, it said. To tide over the intense demand, the company said that it has made available additional 8.75 MTs of coal to State and Central Gencos for lifting through rail-cum-road mode till May 31.Of this, 3.25 MT is the unlifted quantity of the earlier round of RCR offer and 5.5 MTs is the new offer, it said. The escalating power demand, driven up by the post-pandemic economic buoyancy and hotter than normal summer, seems to dwarf the upsurge in supplies, it said. With mercury levels rising above 41 degrees, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has categorized heatwave status in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.