Coal India on Monday allayed fears of a supply shortage for power plants and said it is concentrating its efforts to meet the increased demand during summer.

“CIL is cognisant of the importance of meeting increased coal demand in the power sector as the generation will step into higher orbit with the advent of summer. With sufficient coal in the system and stepping up its production, CIL is geared to meet the summer demand,” the public sector miner said in a statement.

Coal India has estimated that based on the current trend of coal stock accumulation, the miner is expected to open fiscal 2023 above 60mt at its pitheads. The stockpile of domestic coal at power plants is expected to rise to around 25mt by the close of the fiscal, the bulk of it augmented by CIL’s supplies. Further, an additional 4.5mt will be available at goods sheds, washeries and ports.

Moreover, CIL has said that power plants without a power purchase agreement can participate under a separate electronic auction window.

Coal India has already offered an additional 11.2 million tonnes of coal in two rounds on an ‘as is where is basis’, to boost coal stocks at generating units during the unprecedented spike in power generation witnessed in September 2021.

Till March 24, Coal India had supplied an all time high of 528 million tonnes to the power utilities. This is 98.5 per cent of the prorated demand of 536mt projected by the Union power ministry and the Central Electricity Authority.