Coal Supplies Drop to ‘Critical’ at Most Indian Power Plants

Coal supply fell to “critical” levels at plants with 70 percent of India’s electricity- generating capacity after they received less fuel or produced more power than forecast, the Central Electricity Authority said.

Fifty-two coal-fired generators, more than half of the 89 thermal-power plants in India, had stockpiles of less than seven days’ supply on Nov. 27, the supervisory body said in a report on its website. That compared with 46 such plants a month earlier and 29 units a year ago.

Among those plants, 31 were at a “super critical” status, with less than four days of stock. That compares with 14 such plants a year earlier, according to the government. Typical stocks are 15 to 30 days, it said.

Indian power utilities fell short by 85 percent of the capacity needed to meet the government’s target in October, according to government data. Electricity production last month rose 4.9 percent to 74,083 million kilowatt-hours.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dinakar Sethuraman in New Delhi at dinakar@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net