Why India is facing 8-hour blackouts in a scorching summer

Power crisis: India is facing frequent power cuts, some of them 8-hour-long.

Concerns of a power crisis are looming large as India faces a coal supply shortage amid a scorching summer. Thermal plants across the country are grappling with coal shortages, indicating a looming power crisis in the country, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) warned. This, coupled with soaring temperatures that have led to an increase in the demand for electricity, has caused several states to cut power supply in households daily. The blackouts are long as eight hours in certain states.

"Thermal plants across the country are grappling with a coal shortage as the power demand in the states has increased, and a number of states are not able to bridge the gap between demand and supply because of insufficient coal stocks at thermal plants," AIPEF spokesperson VK Gupta said in a statement.

Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Jharkhand are among the states facing widespread power cuts due to coal scarcity. In the first half of April 2022, the domestic power demand hit a 38-year high for the month. While there was 1.1 per cent power shortage in October 2021, this shortfall shot up to 1.4 per cent in April 2022, AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey said.

As per Central Electricity Authority's (CEA) report, the coal stock at 81 out of a total of 150 thermal power stations using domestic coal is critical as per guidelines.

The condition of the private sector thermal plants is equally bad as the coal stock of 28 out of 54 plants is in a critical stage, it pointed out. According to the statement, in the northern region, the worst suffering states are Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The Union Power Ministry has recommended the import of coal for blending up to 10 per cent to ensure adequate stock when the power demand is at its peak in the next few months, it added.