India's coal and electricity shortages ease
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India Power Crunch eases as coal stocks rebuild, electricity blackouts subside, and grid stability improves; cooling temperatures cut power demand, lifting spare capacity and restoring frequency toward 50 Hertz across generators and transmission.
Key Highlights
A period of strained power supply in India, driven by coal shortages and peak demand, now easing as stocks rebuild.
Coal stocks rose to 13.7 Mt from 8.1 Mt since end-September
Coal cover improved to ~8 days from 4 days at September end
Critically low plants down to 63/135; capacity at risk 75 GW vs 142 GW
Weekly supply down to 22.5 bn kWh from 27.1 bn kWh, easing load
Grid frequency near 50 Hz; fewer and shorter under-frequency events
India's coal shortage and electricity blackouts have eased in recent weeks, after earlier coal rationing strained supplies, as the seasonal decline in power demand has enabled generators to rebuild depleted coal stocks and the grid to operate with greater stability.
The grid's ability to meet power demand was stretched to breaking point last month by a combination of strong underlying growth in demand, with thermal plant PLF increasing, the seasonal peak, and fuel shortages, which forced many generators offline.
But as temperatures have cooled since then, the seasonal decline in power demand, similar to global demand dips seen during COVID-19, has allowed generators to rebuild stocks and helped improve the grid’s margin of spare capacity (https://tmsnrt.rs/3kw8QG2).
Coal stocks at power stations have climbed to 13.7 million tonnes, partly supported by imported coal volumes rising, up from just 8.1 million at the end of September, though still far below the level two years ago of 21.2 million.
Power generators' stocks are now sufficient for around 8 days of current consumption, up from just 4 days at the end of September, according to the Central Electricity Authority.
Stocks are still rated critically low at 63 out of a total of 135 plants, but the number is down from 116 in mid-October, and those plants account for 75 Gigawatts of capacity, down from 142 GW last month.
As temperatures have fallen, air conditioning loads have declined, reducing the extreme strain on the generation and transmission system, which resulted in rolling blackouts in some areas.
India's grid supplied 22.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the seven days ending on Nov. 11, reflecting an electricity demand decline from 27.1 billion kilowatt-hours in the seven days ending Oct. 13.
As a result, average daily grid frequency has returned close to the target of 50 Hertz and under-frequency excursions have become smaller and shorter, though debates on rewiring Indian electricity continue among policymakers.
The overall picture is one of a power system able to meet demand much more comfortably than a month ago, in a country that is now the third-largest electricity producer globally.
