Coal India Ltd (CIL) announced that it has closed financial year 2021-22 (FY22) with record high levels of production, off-take and dispatches to power plants.
Supplies to power sector
CIL supplied 540.4 million tonnes of coal to the power sector in FY22, representing a 21.4 per cent growth over the 445 million tonnes supplied in FY21. Even when compared with the pandemic-free years of FY20 and FY19, growth in supplies to power sector in FY22 were 16 per cent and 10 per cent higher, respectively.
In volume terms, CIL’s coal supplies to the power sector in FY22 were 95.4 million tonnes higher than in FY21. This incremental growth exceeded the cumulative increase during the previous seven years when such coal supplies rose to 445 million tonnes in FY21 from 353.8 million tonnes in FY14 – a volume growth of 91.2 million tonnes.
Challenges overcome
CIL turned out an impressive performance despite the challenges faced in FY22—the second wave of COVID-19 in the first quarter (April-June) and the extended monsoon that militated against CIL’s production and loading operations. Handling volatility of coal demand from the power sector in second half of the year (October 2021 to March 2022) was another challenge, CIL said.
Production rebounds
CIL’s production level in FY22, at 622.6 million tonnes, surpassed the previous high of 507 million tonnes seen in FY19. After a loss of output in the preceding two years (FY20 and FY21), CIL came back strongly with a 26.4-million-tonne increase in output in FY22, compared with FY21. The year-on-year growth in CIL’s coal production in FY22 was 4.4 per cent. (See table).
Three of its subsidiaries—MCL, SECL and NCL—accounted for nearly 70 per cent of CIL’s total coal production in FY22. [See end-note for abbreviations]
In a very interesting recent study, Council on Energy, Environment & Water (CEEW) has said that while the phasing out of coal for electricity generation is inevitable, such transition would also need to formulate an alternate economy for coal-dependent communities. (Read full report)
Off-take up 15 per cent
CIL’s total off-take stood at 662 million tonnes in FY22, up 15.3 per cent, year-on-year. The growth in physical terms was 87.4 million tonnes, when compared to the 574.5 million tonnes in FY21.
In FY22, CIL loaded an average of 271.2 rakes per day, which was the highest-ever level and 12.3 per cent more than the 241.4 rakes loaded per day in FY21.
CIL opened FY22 with a stock of 99.13 million tonnes and liquidated 38.4 million tonnes by the end of FY22 – the highest annual liquidation in any fiscal year so far.
Also read: Coal India Incorporates Subsidiaries For Renewable Energy Foray
Targets for FY23
CIL has pegged coal output and off-take targets for FY23 at 700 million tonnes, and the company is is committed to achieving them, sustaining the performance of FY22.
With focus on boosting production, CIL has cleared 16 coal mining projects of which seven are greenfield project while nine are expansion projects. Combined, they have a total capacity of nearly 100 million tonnes per year, and an incremental capacity of 56.7 million tonnes per year.
Meanwhile, of the 15 identified projects on MDO (mine developer-cum-operator) projects, work order has been issued for five projects worth production of 96 million tonnes per year, in FY22. According to information available with T&D India, Coal India Ltd, in June 2020, had identified these 15 MDO projects (with a total targeted production capacity of 168 million tonnes per year) with a view to boosting production by engaging mine developers-cum-operators who would be engaging in these identified projects, under a 25-year contract.
Note: ECL: Eastern Coalfields Ltd; BCCL: Bharat Coking Coal Ltd; CCL: Central Coalfields Ltd; NCL: Northern Coalfields Ltd; WCL: Western Coalfields Ltd; SECL: South Eastern Coalfields Ltd; MCL: Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd; NEC: North Eastern Coalfields Ltd.
