- India’s coal power generation has risen for sixth straight month
Because much of its available power has already been allocated, meaning additional supplies would have to be withdrawn from other states, one of the officials said, the government is finding it difficult to meet states’ requests. But weaker hydropower generation following an El Niño-related decline in rainfall has tightened supplies available for redistribution, the officials said, adding the federal government has already given extra power to Punjab as the state suffered power outages of up to 14 hours per day in some areas in September. Nearly 41 GW of power plants are offline, according to Grid India data. Also, about 47% of the coal plants had critical fuel levels, which equates to less than a quarter of mandated coal supplies.
Several coal power plants are undergoing maintenance, while there has been weaker hydropower and wind generation leading to a power shortfall at a time of high industrial demand, said Rupesh Sankhe, a research analyst at Elara Securities.
Coal-fired generation rose 13.3% in September from a year earlier, while hydropower generation has fallen 20% from a year ago, government data showed.
