Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) officials on Thursday said the shortage of coal across India and high prices of natural gas have forced the company to buy power from exchanges at a higher rate.
The officials, as per reports, said they were forced to buy power at high rates during peak hours. At present, GUVNL is spending Rs 15 to Rs 20 more per unit for purchasing power from exchanges.
Gujarat has a total power generation capacity of over 29,000 MW. Meanwhile, the Installed power generation capacity of the State has increased from 315 MW in 1960-61 to 28,277 MW in 2019-2020.
Experts believe that a sharp uptick in the demand for power as the country begins to recover from coronavirus has led to a coal shortage in the thermal plants. In India, coal-fired power stations account for nearly 70% of electricity generation.
A few days earlier, Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh had warned that the nation could be handling a supply squeeze for as long as six months due to depleting coal reserves. To cut back on the crunch, the Union Ministry recently announced that it will allow companies that have been allotted coal and lignite mines for their own use to sell 50% of their annual output
