Tired of neverending power cuts? Here's why India is facing a power shortage

In the scorching month of April, when temperatures are soaring to 43 degree celsius, some Indian states are grappling with 8-hour power cuts. The crisis has cropped up in the recent times because the power demand has suddenly spiked and there is a shortage of coal supply.

ONLY EIGHTS DAYS OF COAL LEFT IN 12 STATES

All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) Chairman Shailendra Dubey warned that only eight days of coal stock is left in 12 states. He said that this power crisis would worsen as the demand for power will increase due to rise in tempearature in the coming days.  

Also, the power demand in April 2022 is 8% more than what it was last year, Shailendra told DailyO.

At present, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Jharkhand and Haryana are facing power cut issues ranging from 3 to 8.7%.  The states are unable to bridge the gap between power demand and supply. Among the northern states, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are worst sufferers. In UP, power demand went above 21,000 MW, while the supply was 19000 MW- 20,000 MW.

In fact, in the first half of April 2022, the domestic power demand in the country has hit 38-year-high for the month.

According to a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report, coal stocks at 81 out of 150 thermal power stations in the country using domestic coal is critical.

Why is India facing this power crisis?

 There are two reasons why India is facing a sudden power crisis:

• The demand of electricity during this time of the year remains high, but this year the supply has been affected badly due to the increase in the global coal prices and supply disruption. 
• The power cut issue has also been aggravated due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, as the thermal plants in India were unable to get low-ash coal from Russia.

According to economist Sonal Verma, both demand and supply side factors are responsible for this mess.

"Electricity demand has shot up due to the reopening and as the country heads towards the peak summer season, but supply has been disrupted due to the reduce availability of railway rakes to transport coal and lower coal imports,” Verma wrote in a research paper for the Japanese Bank.

OPPOSITION TAKES A DIG

The opposition leaders are take a jibe at the government for the power crisis in the country. “8 years of big talk has resulted in India having only 8 DAYS OF coal stocks,” former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Twitter said.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also took a swipe at the government, talking about the power crisis in Haryana, where two thermal power plants are shut despite the state facing a severe power crisis.

प्रदेश में बिजली संकट के बावजूद हरियाणा में बिजली बनाने के दो कारखाने बंद पिछले 8 साल में प्रदेश में एक भी नया बिजली संयत्र नहीं लगाया पर 4 बिजली संयत्र नष्ट किएबिजली-पानी गुल होने से जनता बेहाल और खस्ताहालसरकार अडानी समूह पर खट्टर-चौटाला सरकार मेहरबान क्यों?हमारा बयान- pic.twitter.com/Lr9tvdviWD

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) April 21, 2022

WHAT NOW?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting on the issue with Power Minister RK Singh and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The Railway Minister has also been asked to rush the coal loads to thermal plants whose stocks are on a minimum level.

The big states facing power crunch have planned to import coal to avoid power cuts. India’s central governemnt has asked state government of Karnataka, UP, MP, Punjab and Haryana to import a total of 10 million tonnes of coal.

Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the three biggest power guzzlers in the country. The three industrialized states plan to import 10.5 million tonnes of coal in thecoming months as officials struggle to arrest the power shortage

Tamil Nadu has less than two days of rolling coal stock left, while the thermal power plants in Maharashtra and Gujarat have only five days of inventory left.

Maharashtra plans to import 8 million tonnes of coal next week, while Gujarat has placed an order for 1 million tonnes next week. Also, the Chairman of Tamil Nadu government run power utility Rajesh Lakhoni, said that state was targeting importing 20% of coal requirements. He said that it has already placed order to import 1.5 million tonnes of coal, Reuters reported.  The coal mines in South Africa, Australia, Indonesia are likely to emerge as the main beneficiaries of India’s import business.