The government has extended the direction for imported coal-based power plants to run at full capacity till April 30 from February 28, people aware of the development said. There are 15 imported coal-based (ICB) power plants including Tata Power Co. Ltd’s Coastal Power Gujarat, Adani Power Mundra Ltd, Essar Power Gujarat, and JSW Ratnagiri.
The power ministry’s direction for thermal plants using imported coal to operate at full capacity to meet increasing electricity demand ended Feb 28. The total capacity of these plants is around 17 GW, which is significant in meeting the peak power demand, which has been constantly rising as the summer takes hold and is anticipated to increase further.
The directive comes under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, which provides that the government may, in extraordinary circumstances, ask a power generation company to operate and maintain any station in accordance with its directions.
The directive allows the plants to recover costs through power purchase agreements if the tariff is higher because of expensive fuel costs.
The latest extension is aimed at ensuring adequate capacity amid continued increase in power demand especially in summer, an industry official said.
The government expects peak power demand at 240 GW in March and 270 GW in the summer months to follow. The peak demand in February has already moved higher than projected at 238 GW in solar hours compared with the expected 234 GW.
“,”next_sibling”:[{“msid”:118627564,”title”:”Indian economy grows 6.2% in Q3″,”entity_type”:”ARTICLE”,”link”:”/news/industry/indian-economy-grows-6-2-in-q3/118627564″,”link_next_mobile”:”/news/industry/indian-economy-grows-6-2-in-q3/118627564?next=1″,”category_name”:null,”category_name_seo”:”industry”}],”related_content”:[],”seoschemas”:false,”social_share”:{“fb”:”/news/industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30/118640693?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium={{DEVICE_TYPE}}”,”x”:”/news/industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30/118640693?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium={{DEVICE_TYPE}}”,”whatsapp”:”/news/industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30/118640693?utm_source=wapp&utm_medium={{DEVICE_TYPE}}”,”linkdin”:”/news/industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30/118640693?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium={{DEVICE_TYPE}}”,”telegram”:”/news/industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30/118640693?utm_source=telegram&utm_medium={{DEVICE_TYPE}}”,”copy”:”/news/industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30/118640693?utm_source=copy&utm_medium={{DEVICE_TYPE}}”},”cat_msid”:25384693,”cat_sub_msid”:false,”msid”:118640693,”entity_type”:”ARTICLE”,”title”:”Imported coal power plants told to run full capacity till April 30″,”synopsis”:”India has extended the mandate for imported coal-fired power plants to operate at full capacity until the end of April due to high demand for electricity. The power ministry expects electricity demand to rise to 270 GW in the upcoming summer season, driven by high temperatures and heatwaves.”,”titleseo”:”industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30″,”status”:”ACTIVE”,”authors”:[{“author_name”:”Shilpa Samant”,”author_link”:”/author/479259369/shilpa-samant”,”author_api_link”:”/author/479259369″,”author_image”:””,”author_additional”:{“thumbsize”:false,”msid”:479259369,”author_name”:”Shilpa Samant”,”author_seo_name”:”shilpa-samant”,”designation”:”Assistant Editor”,”agency”:false}}],”Alttitle”:{“minfo”:””},”artag”:”ET Bureau”,”artdate”:”2025-03-01 08:33:58″,”lastupd”:”2025-03-01 08:34:31″,”breadcrumbTags”:[“India coal power mandate”,”imported coal power plants”,”electricity demand India”,”full capacity operation coal plants”,”summer season electricity”],”secinfo”:{“seolocation”:”industry/imported-coal-power-plants-told-to-run-full-capacity-till-april-30″}}” data-authors=”[” shilpa data-author-list=”Shilpa Samant” data-category-name=”Industry” data-category_id=”23″ data-cat_msid=”25384693″ data-date=”2025-03-01″ data-index=”article_1″ data-keywords=”India coal power mandate, imported coal power plants, electricity demand India, full capacity operation coal plants, summer season electricity” data-type=”news”>
India has extended the mandate for imported coal-fired power plants to operate at full capacity until the end of April due to high demand for electricity. The power ministry expects electricity demand to rise to 270 GW in the upcoming summer season, driven by high temperatures and heatwaves.
The government has extended the direction for imported coal-based power plants to run at full capacity till April 30 from February 28, people aware of the development said. There are 15 imported coal-based (ICB) power plants including Tata Power Co. Ltd’s Coastal Power Gujarat, Adani Power Mundra Ltd, Essar Power Gujarat, and JSW Ratnagiri.
The power ministry’s direction for thermal plants using imported coal to operate at full capacity to meet increasing electricity demand ended Feb 28. The total capacity of these plants is around 17 GW, which is significant in meeting the peak power demand, which has been constantly rising as the summer takes hold and is anticipated to increase further.
The directive comes under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, which provides that the government may, in extraordinary circumstances, ask a power generation company to operate and maintain any station in accordance with its directions.
The directive allows the plants to recover costs through power purchase agreements if the tariff is higher because of expensive fuel costs.
The latest extension is aimed at ensuring adequate capacity amid continued increase in power demand especially in summer, an industry official said.
The government expects peak power demand at 240 GW in March and 270 GW in the summer months to follow. The peak demand in February has already moved higher than projected at 238 GW in solar hours compared with the expected 234 GW.