Coal shortage cuts thermal generation

According to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) the thermal generation in the cou­ntry dipped during September and the April-September period. In a report it said, although the coal-based plants achieved a growth rate of 6.46 per cent over the same period last year, generations from these stations alone suffered a shortfall of 4,607 million units (MUs) with respect to the generation target for the month. Cumulative gen­eration from thermal plants du­r­ing the April-September period achieved a growth rate of 5.45 per cent over last year. The report said this was due to the coal shortages/wet coal problems, low system demand/reserve shutdown of thermal units and forced outages. This also resulted in fall in plant load factor (PLF) of coal/lignite-based plants. The PLF was considerably decreased by 2.80 per cent during September and 0.82 per cent during April-September over the same period last year.