The share of coal-fired power plants in India running on critically low levels of coal inventory has soared in recent weeks to nearly 40% of all operational coal plants, Reuters reported on Monday, citing government data.
As many as 74 coal-fired power plants had fewer than three days’ worth of coal stocks as of this weekend, sharply higher compared to 60 in the previous week, per the data from the Central Electricity Authority cited by Reuters.
Despite the low stock levels, India doesn’t face any critical supply issues, as recent domestic transportation issues have depleted the inventory at coal power plants in several states amid rising power demand.
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Early this month, India’s Ministry of Coal said that domestic coal companies were ramping up supply to the coal-fired power plants as coal stocks at dozens of the plants dropped to critically low levels.
Many coal-fired power plants in India, where coal is still the single largest electricity generator, saw their coal stocks fall below the critically low level of 25% as electricity demand rises amid the strong El Niño, but supply has been disrupted by monsoon rains.
In August, monsoon-related disruptions to domestic supply tightened the immediate availability and transportation of coal from the coal-rich producing states to the coal-fired power plants.
“The number of critical thermal plants (stock below 25% of normative requirement) are being closely monitored, with corrective coal supply measures already in place to further ease the position at these plants,” the ministry said in early September.
Despite the significant drawdown in stocks, coal availability remains adequate as the key constraint has been in domestic transportation in recent weeks, analysts say.
Amid higher power demand and oil and gas disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, India will see a 4.2% rise in its total coal demand to 1.353 billion tons this year, reversing last year’s temporary slight drop, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its Coal Mid-Year Update 2026 published last week.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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