Powerless: Power Crisis Hits India
Powerless: Power Crisis Hits India
The power crisis has just hit India, especially north India. Prominent news agencies such as Hindustan Times had flagged the problem months back. At present, nearly 50% of the state-run NTPC are under a coal shortage. Stocks are all set to last less than a week, according to official data.
As per reports of the latest CEA (Central Electricity Authority) released on July 15, 46 coal-based generating stations of a complete list of 100, India has fuel stock for less than 7 days. NTPC is in real trouble. The nation's largest power producer and biggest consumer of domestic coal is now suffering as 8 of the 23 electricity generating stations will last for just a few days.
State-run NTPC has requested the power ministry to send more coal to 6 of the plants as they do not have stocks to weather even the most minute disruption in supplies. The fuel reserves will run out in days.
The 6 plants have a combined capacity of 16,480 MW or 15% of the country's total energy capacity from coal-fired plants. Indian coal demand is set to rise to 787 million tonnes. With the possibility of incoming monsoon rains disrupting supply deliveries high, the situation does not look too bright right now.
India has reported a peak power deficit of around 3.7% last month. There was a shortfall in electricity supply when demand was at the highest. The total power demand during the month was 1,42,647 MW of which 1,37,352 MW was met. A gap of 5,295 MW was not met.
The current scenario is so grim because India uses coal for generating more than half of its electricity. If the sunny nation were to use solar energy instead, this problem would have not cropped up in the first place and a power crisis would not have darkened our doors right now.
The country is now reeling under blackouts. We have dark times ahead of us as the power to meet the rising demand is still unharnessed. Coal India has failed to increase its output fast enough. The result has been that the country has imported millions of tonnes of the black rock for thermal power plants.
The problem has compounded because weak monsoon rains have caused a decrease in the output from the hydropower plants, thus cancelling out a fifth of India's energy. The thermal plants have been under pressure to compensate for this.
Power companies have been urged to raise thermal coal imports as 26 of the 100 coal-based power plants in India had super critical stocks which can meet enough requirements for as less as 4 days. The Centre now looks to the State for help with the crippling power outages.
They should also look to handle the power crisis by using renewable energy sources rather than relying on fossil fuels such as coal. With more on line than just power, the government has to be real about the challenges out there. With renewable energy in their camp, any government will be a winner in every sense of the term.
