New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Government-owned mining giant Coal India Limited (CIL) assured on Tuesday that it had adequate coal stocks to meet the peak summer demand from the country’s thermal power plants.

The company said that the coal stock buffer currently available for use is around 168 million tonnes (MT), which includes inventories at power plants, CIL mine heads, transit points, and coal in transit through the railway networks.

Stocks of the fuel at thermal plants running on domestic coal stood at 47.6 MT as of May 23, while inventory at CIL’s mine heads was 113.5 MT as of May 24, which is 10 per cent higher than at this time last year. The current stock level is sufficient to meet around 19 days of the fuel requirement of power plants, the company highlighted.

In addition, around 3 MT of coal is lying at transit points such as goods sheds, ports, and private washeries, while nearly 4 MT is currently in transit through railway rakes.

The public sector company said the decline in coal stocks at power plants during peak summer months is a natural occurrence every year and should not be interpreted as a supply-side crisis.

The mining giant, which meets over 80 per cent of India’s coal demand, also said around 50 MT of in-situ mine coal is readily available for quick extraction and dispatch in case there is a further increase in demand.

As of May 20, 21 thermal power plants were categorised under criticality, of which 11 were domestic coal-based units. Seven of these plants source coal from CIL.

CIL said it has been regularly communicating with power producers to build up inventories in advance, particularly for plants located in logistically challenging areas.

A senior official said coal stocks were also being built up at the pitheads of coal mining companies as a proactive measure to meet any exigency amid the disruption in oil and gas supplies due to the Iran war.

The Ministry of Coal is ensuring a performance-driven ecosystem through sustained policy facilitation, robust monitoring mechanisms, and proactive stakeholder engagement. These concerted efforts are aimed at providing reliable coal availability, enabling uninterrupted operations across critical sectors, and effectively meeting the nation’s growing energy demands, the official added.

–IANS

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