Coal crisis deepens, power units may shut down

New Delhi : The government might have announced diversion of spot market coal to bridge the supply shortages for long-term consumers in the power sector, but experts see the move as “grossly inadequate". As coal shortage has touched unprecedented levels, coal stock position at power stations has gone from bad to worse forcing the power industry to brace itself for a possible closure of some units.

A host of issues including heavy rains disrupting coal supply, workers’ strike at largest producer Coal India and Telangana agitation in the South have snapped fuel supply at power stations over the past month. More than half of the country’s 86 thermal power stations are currently running at “critical" stocks of less than seven days, while more than a third of the plants have become “super critical", according to Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the apex power sector planning body.