India will likely lean more on its coal capacity to meet peak power demand this summer as liquefied natural gas supplies tighten after shipping disruptions linked to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran hit exports from major producers, two industry officials said.
New Delhi typically pushes power plants to ramp up generation during the April-June summer months, including costly gas-fired generation, to meet surging electricity demand and subsidises the cost for companies to shield customers from higher prices.
But so far the government has received no bids from power companies to supply 12,000 megawatt-hour of gas-based power for the summer months, an official with knowledge of the matter said. The tender will close in the next two days.
A second official said the power ministry is looking to bring coal plants out of planned outages and advising generators to avoid shutdowns during the peak summer months.
Top utility NTPC (NTPC.NS), has already told India’s grid regulator it will not be able to supply gas-fired power during the April–June summer months, two company sources said.
NTPC and the federal power ministry did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comment.
EMERGENCY PROVISIONS
India has invoked emergency provisions and declared force majeure, reprioritising natural gas supplies to key sectors such as households and fertiliser plants.
India’s Petronet LNG Ltd (PLNG.NS), the country’s top gas importer, has also issued a force majeure notice to customers including top power suppliers GAIL (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS) after supplies from Qatar and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were halted.
The country has about 20 gigawatts (GW) of gas-based generation capacity, which typically operates at 6-10% utilisation due to costly LNG, but rises to about 30% during the summer months.
Even if peak demand reaches 250–260 GW this summer, India is unlikely to face material power cuts given ample coal, lignite, nuclear, hydro and wind capacity, said Gautam Shahi, senior director at Crisil Ratings.
India relies on coal power for nearly 75% of its power generation.
“India’s thermal coal market is seeing steady import demand, particularly for coal grades used by power producers,” said Vasudev Pamnani, director at Gujarat-based coal trader i-Energy Resources. Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by Saad Sayeed
