Coal India, it has plenty coal available for the nation's coal-fired thermal power plants, with stockpiles of the fuel at 33.8 million tonnes (MTs) as of April's end, up 62% from the same period last year. The largest coal miner in the nation, Coal India (CIL), reported that coal supplies to coal-fired facilities increased to 50.6 MT in April 2023 from 49.3 MT in April of the previous year in a stock exchange filing.
As of April 2023's end, CIL's pitheads had 64.6 MT of coal in stock, a 13% increase over the same period in the previous year. "CIL's increased output made sure that stockpiles barely shrank by 4.9 MT in the month. According to the filing, CIL had a 69.5 MT coal stock at the start of the fiscal year.
A senior CIL official expressed the hope that there wouldn't be any criticism related to coal. The state-run coal miner produced 57.6 MT more in April, an increase of 7.7%. Over a high base of 53.5 MT in April 2022, a volume increase of 4.1 MT was achieved. With the exception of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), every CIL subsidiary reported the greatest production volume ever for the month of April.
The Talcher coalfields of MCL (Mahanadi Coalfields Limited) contractual workers' four-day strike caused the production to fall by almost 1 MT, according to a Coal India official. In April 2023, CIL's coal supply soared to 62.3 MT, approximately 5 MT more than in the same month a year prior when the off-take was 57.4 MT. Over a strong base, the month's 8.6% growth was achieved. Every generating unit of CIL recorded growth.
Increasing coal delivery to the Non-Regulated Sector (NRS) in order to stabilise the demand from the power sector saw a dramatic 44% spike in April of this year, the company said, adding that it provided 11.8 MT to its NRS customers as opposed to 8.2 MT in April of last year.
"There is a total of 115 MT of coal stock in the system, which includes 33.8 MT at domestic coal based at power plants; CIL pitheads 64.6 MT; stock at private washeries, goods sheds, captive mines and ports 13.3 MT while coal in rakes on run, that is, coal in transit, is 3.5 MT," the business stated.
