Nearly 40% of India’s coal power plants running critically low on fuel, data show
Government data shows the number of coal-fired power plants with critically low fuel stocks rose sharply to 74, out of 190 thermal plants monitored, as of September 19, 2026 — up from about 60 plants the previous week and 51 in August.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which publishes daily coal-stock data for thermal plants, classifies a plant as "critical" when its coal inventory falls below 25% of the normative requirement or is sufficient for fewer than three days of generation.
Aggregate coal stocks at India's thermal stations fell to about 22.9 million tonnes on September 19, providing roughly seven days of cover and equal to about 39% of the normative stock level, down from 29 million tonnes at the end of August.
The shortfall coincides with sustained high electricity demand this season, with peak power demand ranging between roughly 230 and 250 gigawatts over the preceding week.
CEA's Normative Coal Stock Framework
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the technical arm of the Ministry of Power responsible for power-sector planning and standard-setting, has prescribed plant-specific normative coal-stocking norms (revised in December 2021) that vary by month and by plant location, requiring thermal power plants to maintain a minimum number of "days of stock" calculated at 85% Plant Load Factor (PLF).
Key Details
- Norms differ for pit-head plants (located near coal mines, requiring fewer stocking days) versus non-pit-head plants (requiring more days of buffer, given longer transport lead times); for the September period, the requirement is around 12 days for pit-head and 20 days for non-pit-head plants.
- CEA classifies a plant as "critical" when stock falls below 25% of the applicable normative requirement or below three days of generation cover, and "supercritical" categories exist for even lower stock — this classification is purely a fuel-security metric, distinct from the technical "supercritical" boiler-technology term used elsewhere in thermal engineering.
- CEA monitors all 190 coal/lignite-based thermal power plants in the country on a daily basis and publishes this data publicly, functioning as India's real-time early-warning system for fuel-security risk in the power sector.
The 74-plant critical count and 39% normative-stock figure are direct outputs of this CEA monitoring framework, illustrating how a single institutional dataset is used to track fuel security across nearly 40% of India's coal fleet.
Coal Linkage, Fuel Supply Agreements and the ACQ Mechanism
Thermal power plants in India receive coal not through open-market purchase alone but predominantly through long-term Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) with Coal India Limited (CIL) or Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), under which each plant is allotted an Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) — the quantum of coal the supplier commits to deliver annually.
Key Details
- Coal India Limited, a Maharatna central public sector enterprise, accounts for the large majority of India's domestic coal production and supplies coal-based power plants under the FSA/ACQ framework administered in coordination with the CEA and Ministry of Coal.
- Supply shortfalls against ACQ commitments are typically bridged through e-auctions (including special forward e-auction windows for power utilities) and, when domestic supply is tight, through coal imports blended with domestic coal, especially for coastal and import-dependent plants.
- Rail logistics constraints (rake availability) are frequently a binding factor in translating adequate pithead coal stocks into adequate plant-level stocks, since CIL's production and a plant's delivered stock are governed by transportation capacity as much as mining output.
A rising critical-plant count despite CIL production continuing does not necessarily indicate a mining shortfall — it typically reflects a gap between the contracted ACQ delivery pace, transport logistics and a demand surge that has outpaced planned offtake, which the government would need to address through supplementary e-auction allocations or import top-ups.
Demand-Supply Economics of Coal-Based Power Generation
Coal continues to be the dominant source of India's electricity generation, and periods of unusually high peak demand — driven by extreme heat or reduced hydro generation — translate quickly into fuel-stock stress because thermal plants must burn down existing inventory faster than scheduled deliveries replenish it, given coal's central role in "merit order" dispatch to meet base and peak load.
Key Details
- Peak power demand in the run-up to this data point ranged between about 230 and 250 gigawatts, reflecting sustained high consumption; when hydro generation is subdued (e.g., due to weak monsoon inflows), thermal plants are called upon to cover a larger share of the incremental load.
- Elevated demand also raises the price and volume of coal imports; Indian power producers' coal imports reportedly reached a multi-month high recently as generators sought to supplement tight domestic supply during the demand surge.
- Analysts have characterised the current stock decline as reflecting logistical and demand-timing pressures rather than a structural shortage in India's underlying coal reserves or mining capacity, distinguishing a short-term fuel-security stress event from a long-run supply-adequacy problem.
The 42% month-on-month fall in aggregate thermal coal stocks (from about 29 million tonnes at end-August to 22.9 million tonnes by September 19) illustrates how a demand shock combined with logistics lag can rapidly erode the fuel-security buffer, even without any change in India's coal production capacity.
- Plants classified "critical" (below 25% of normative stock or under 3 days' cover): 74 out of 190 monitored thermal plants (as of September 19, 2026), up from about 60 the prior week and 51 in August.
- Aggregate thermal coal stock: about 22.9 million tonnes (September 19, 2026), down from 29 million tonnes at end-August 2026 — a roughly 24% decline.
- Stock cover: about 7 days, equal to roughly 39% of the CEA's normative requirement.
- CEA normative stocking norms (revised December 2021): calculated at 85% Plant Load Factor; September requirement approximately 12 days (pit-head) and 20 days (non-pit-head) plants.
- Peak electricity demand in the preceding week: roughly 230-250 gigawatts.
- Coal supplied primarily via Fuel Supply Agreements (FSA) with Coal India Limited/Singareni Collieries Company Limited under the Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) mechanism.