The power ministry will soon allow plants by Tata Power and Adani Power at Mundra in Gujarat to sell electricity on the power exchanges to facilitate coal and power supply amid a crunch, a senior official told The Economic Times.
These projects of 4,000 megawatts each run on imported coal but are not operational now as there was no compensation for the high-cost fuel, the official told the publication.
Power prices at the day-ahead market of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) peaked at Rs 20 per unit, the maximum on power exchanges, due to high demand. The average price was around Rs 9 per unit as opposed to Rs 2.95 per unit seen in July.
The maximum peak demand of 200 GW was observed in July 2021 and now it is hovering around 192-193 GW. Historically, the maximum demand is observed in the month of September, it added.
Gujarat is buying the most from IEX (4,000 to 5,000 MW) followed by Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
The Centre called on coal-based power plants to look at coal imports to relieve the supply crunch but they have said that imported coal is not available off the shelf, and takes up to two months from the time an order is placed to be available.
A meeting will take place on Monday by the Ministry of Power to resolve issues so that power from some units can contribute to the overall generation to ease pressure on domestic coal requirements.
The present low coal stocks in certain power stations are encountered due to various reasons including an increase in power demand on account of the opening up of the economy throughout the country and less generation from hydropower plants.
Published 30 August 2021, 05:40 IST