Coal news and updates

Slight fall in water storage levels at key India reservoirs

October 28: The water storage available at 85 important reservoirs in India stood at 114.267 BCM as on October 22, slightly down from 116.246 BCM as on October 9 2014, but down 14% from the storage level of the corresponding period of last year, an official release said on October 28.

Industry sources said, the improvement in the water level at important reservoirs might have helped in generation of higher volumes of hydro power thereby putting less pressure on coal-fired power as these would have to generate less, which would augur well at a time when most thermal plants are facing critical coal stock situations.

The storage on October 16 was 74% of the total 155.046 BCM storage capacity of the reservoirs as against 77% on October 9 and 76% on October 1.

The Central Water Commission monitors live storage status of 85 important reservoirs of the country on a weekly basis.

These reservoirs include 37 having hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. The total storage capacity of these reservoirs is 155.046 BCM which is about 61% of the storage capacity of 253.388 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country.

The 6 reservoirs in the northern region’s Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, with storage capacity of 18.01 BCM, had storage of 12.44 BCM as on October 22 against  13.82 BCM as on October 16 and 14.28 BCM as on October 9.

In the eastern region’s 15 reservoirs in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura, the storage was 15.50 BCM as on October 22 up from 14.80 BCM as on October 16 and 15.11 BCM as on October 9.

The 22 reservoirs in the two western region states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, with total storage capacity of 24.54 BCM, had available storage of 18.73 BCM as on October 22 against 18.86 BCM as on October 16 and 19.40 BCM as on October 9.

The 12 reservoirs in the four central region states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which have total storage capacity of 42.30 BCM, had a storage level of 34.75 BCM as on October 22, slightly up from 34.67 BCM as on October 16 and 34.56 BCM as on October 9.

Similarly, the 30 reservoirs in the southern region states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which had total storage capacity of 51.37 BCM, had storage level of 32.85 BCM as on October 22 against 34.09 BCM as on October 16 and 35.25 BCM as on October 9.

The release said that as on October 22, the states having better storage than last year for the corresponding period were Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.

On October 16, the states having better storage than last year for the corresponding period were Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.

The states having lesser storage than last year, as on October 22, from the corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.