Coal Shortage: Here's A List Of Major Indian States That Are Facing Long Power Cuts
Severe coal shortage in the country has started impacting power generation in many states including Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.?India - the world's largest coal consumer after China - is expected to face further outages as the coal shortage crisis is in full bloom.
Some states in the country have witnessed a power cut, some are currently facing a blackout, while others are expected to in the coming days. Here's a list.?
Punjab
The state of Punjab is effecting a power cut of 3-4 hours across the state on Saturday with 5 plants shut. Officials of state owned Punjab State Power Corporation Lmited (PSPCL) said two units each at Talwandi Sabo power plant, Ropar plant and one unit at the Lehra Mohabbat plant have been shut.
While the units at the Lehra Mohabbat plant and Talwandi Sabo plant have been forced to shut because of coal shortage, technical glitches have forced the shut down of two units at Ropar. This has led to a power shortage of 1,000 MW.
Luckily for the state government, there is a low demand in the agriculture sector now as the paddy is being harvested, and does not require irrigation. As a result, the demand for power is around 8,500 MW.?
Delhi
Delhi, too, may join the power cut club soon. Chief Minister took to Twitter to drop a hint. "Delhi could face a power crisis. I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it. In the meanwhile, I wrote a letter to Hon¡¯ble PM seeking his personal intervention," he posted.
Rajasthan
This comes a day after the state of Rajasthan announced on Friday that it will begin a scheduled power cut for one hour on a daily basis to tackle the nationwide coal shortage that has pushed many utilities to the brink of running out of coal.
Rajasthan's government-run utility said it would make the cuts in 10 major cities that are home to millions of people, making it the first state to officially schedule outages due to the crisis.
Tamil Nadu
The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) announced on Friday that power will be suspended in parts of Chennai for carrying out maintenance work in the city.
Parts of Chennai faced a power shutdown from 9 am to 4 pm. Sholinganallur, Guindy, Sholinganallur, Injambakkam, Annasalai, Ambattur, Redhills, Perambur and Manali were the worst affected areas across the city.?
Jharkhand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh
Jharkhand and Bihar are also among the worst affected by the coal shortage. Separately, in Andhra Pradesh, acute supply shortfalls were pushing it towards unscheduled power cuts, adding that crops could dry up if there is no electricity to power irrigation pumps.
"More water is required in the last stage of harvesting and if it is denied, fields would dry up and farmers stand to lose," Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
Over half of India's 135 coal-fired power plants, which in total supply around 70% of the country's electricity, have fuel stocks of less than two days as per the data from the federal grid operator.
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