Power Ministry rings raises alarm that coal production gap is aggravating power shortage, writes to PM

There is a growing concern on the acute power shortage. The Power Ministry has raised alarm that the coal production gap is aggravating power shortage, reports CNBC-TV18's Mehak Kasbekar, quoting sources. The Ministry has also written to the PM on coal shortage and requested Coal Ministry to increase production by 20%.

The Power Ministry has warned that coal shortage is likely to derail 26,000 MW in FY12, while another 12,555 MW under execution may be hit. It said that the Ministry have to cutback power capacity addition plans due to this shortage.

“New plants in FY11, FY12 will have no coal,” it further added.

Earlier, power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had said that Minsitry aims to add about 15,000 MW power generation capacity in the current financial year, taking the total capacity to over 1.75 lakh megawatt by the end of this month.

"We have already added about 10,460 MW by now (April- February) and hope to exceed 15,000 MW by the end of this (fiscal) year. This will be the highest capacity addition in any year," Shinde had said.

This will be less by about 5,000 MW against the target of adding power generation capacity of 20,359 MW in 2010-11 and for the fourth consecutive year of the 11th Five Year Plan the country would miss the targets.

According to Central Electricity Authority''s data, the Indian power utilities have been able to add only about 47.78% of the target in last 4 years at 32,512 MW (between April, 2007 to January, 2011).

On the other hand, the 11th Five Year Plan had aimed to achieve an additional generation capacity of 62,262.4 MW during the same period. This target was subsequently reduced in the mid-term review of the Plan and now India aims to achieve a total power capacity of over 62,000 MW (in five years) by March, 2012.

Indian power companies have imported about 10-11 million tonnes (MT) of coal so far in the current fiscal.