Coal India limited: Coal India Ltd targets 156 MT coal supply to power sector in April-June

Coal India Ltd said on Tuesday it is hopeful of supplying 156 million tonnes of coal to the power sector in the summer months of April-June amid concerns over a spike in demand for the dry fuel.

This quantity would be just over a quarter of the dispatch target of 610 MT for the power sector in 2023-24, CIL said in a statement. The power ministry expects peak demand of 229 GW next month, higher than last April’s 211 GW.

India’s largest coal producer expects to have a stock of 68 MT at its pitheads by the end of this month. As of March 13, the stock was 57.3 MT. “The company would be scaling up its production into a higher orbit, maintaining the pace on the back of an unprecedented 700 million tonnes output which it is on course to achieve by FY23-end,” CIL said.

Even after dispatching the planned coal to power utilities in April-June, the company is likely to have 50 MT stock at its pitheads by June-end, it said. The company is confident of meeting its 2023-24 coal supply target to the power sector, which at 610 MT is 20 MT higher than the initially projected requirement by the sector.