By the end of the summer, coal levels in 80 power plants had dropped to 'alarming' levels

New Delhi: With the onset of summer, the country is once again facing fears of coal shortages at power plants as coal stocks at 20 power plants have plummeted to alarming levels.

This situation has arisen at a time when Coal India is steadily increasing its supply with the aim of building a stock of 25 million to 50 million tonnes of coal at the power plant by the end of March to meet any potential shortage of coal in the country. However, the amount of coal in 40 power plants is at a 'critical' level. These power plants currently have less than 5% of their coal requirement.

Notably, the total annual production of coal by Coal India is expected to reach a record 50 million tonnes in the current financial year ending March.

The amount of coal is growing slowly as it is increasing on the daily needs of power plants. According to the Central Electricity Authority, coal production is increasing with a daily requirement of 2.5 lakh tonnes.

However, all the 121 power plants across the country had an ideal level of 8% of their coal requirement, which stood at 3.16 lakh tonnes as on February 8.

However, with the increase in production, the daily requirement of coal is being met to a large extent, so India will not have to face any major power crisis. However in some cases power rates have gone up due to shortage of production.

In February, Coal India produced 25 million tonnes of coal, up from 500,000 tonnes in the same month last year. Coal shortages adversely affect not only power plants but also many industries, including aluminum and steel.