Rajasthan: Power Generation Units of Kalisindh and Suratgarh Stalled due to Coal Crisis

The shortage of coal in Rajasthan has deepened a major power crisis. All units of Kalisindh and Suratgarh thermal plants have come to a standstill.
Image Credit: Navbharat
Image Credit: Navbharat

The shortage of coal in Rajasthan has deepened a major power crisis. All units of Kalisindh and Suratgarh thermal plants have come to a standstill. Unannounced power cuts have started in rural and urban areas of the state due to the coal crisis and power generation disturbances. The situation of power shortage has become so dire that one has to buy expensive electricity up to Rs 18 per unit by breaking the ceiling.

Energy Minister and Principal Secretary reached Delhi, discussion with Union Energy Minister, Coal India and Ministry officials

After the failure of power and coal management, the ministers and officers of the department are now awake. Energy Minister Dr BD Kalla and Energy Secretary Dinesh Kumar have reached Delhi where talks have been held with the Union Minister of Coal, officers of the Ministry and Coal India. Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya is also taking reports from the officials regarding this whole matter.

Power generation stalled in units of Kalisindh and Suratgarh thermal plants

Both the units of Kalisindh Thermal in Jhalawar are closed for the last 12 days due to a shortage of coal. The first unit of thermal has been stalled since August 11 and the second from August 16. Due to the closure of both the 600-600 MW units of thermal, the plant is incurring a loss of about Rs 8 crore per day. According to sources, about Rs, 350 crore is due for coal. Which the corporation has not been able to pay till now to the mine operators located in Chhattisgarh. In these circumstances, they have stopped sending coal to Jhalawar Kalisindh.

Image Credit: The Hans India
Image Credit: The Hans India

At the same time, all the 6 units of 250 to 250 MW of Suratgarh Thermal Power Station have come to a standstill due to a shortage of coal. The reason for this is being told that the production corporation owes a large amount to the private and government sector coal companies.

According to the information, all the 6 units have been closed since last Wednesday. Due to the shortage of coal, about 1500 MW of electricity is not being generated here due to the closure of all the thermal units of 250 MW generation capacity. Each unit of 250 MW per day in thermal requires 3000 metric tonnes of coal, while for supercritical units about 7000 metric tonnes of coal is required. More than 30000 metric tonnes of coal is required for full production from all the thermal units, but power generation has come to a standstill due to coal supply being stopped by coal companies.

Coal supply stopped due to dues of about Rs 3600 crore

About Rs 600 crore for the purchase of coal is due to Northern Coal Linkage and South-Eastern Coal Linkage. Similarly, private company Adani Power Limited also owes Rs 3000 crore. In this way, production of all the units has to be stopped one by one due to the outstanding of Rs 3600 crore. In addition to these 6 units in thermal, there are also 2 supercritical units. In supercritical units, production is being done only in the 7th unit, commercial production has not started in the 8th unit yet.

By breaking the ceiling, you have to buy expensive electricity up to Rs 18 per unit.

Due to the power crisis, electricity has to be bought by breaking the ceiling. The situation of the power crisis has become so dire that the ceiling of the maximum purchase rate has to be removed to buy electricity at the rate of Rs 18 per unit. Despite buying power at such expensive rates, Rajasthan is getting only 20 per cent of the demand from the exchange, as against the earlier ceiling of Rs 6.50 per unit. Whereas a few months ago, electricity was being procured per unit only around Rs. Buying electricity at manifold expensive rates is a situation of increasing economic distress in the state.

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