In India, 96 coal-fired power plants have coal reserves for only three days — OilPrice

In India, 96 coal-fired power plants have fuel reserves sufficient for only three days of operation, while electricity demand has risen due to weather warmer than usual for this time of year. This was reported by OilPrice, citing Reuters and data from India’s Central Electricity Authority.

Power plant reserves are declining

According to the publication, about half of the country’s fleet of coal-fired power plants has critically low reserves. In mid-September, 60 plants were in this situation, meaning their number increased to 96 over the subsequent period.

Since the beginning of October, total coal reserves at power plants have declined by 5%. This happened after coal-fired electricity generation increased by 13.3% in September, but the additional output was insufficient to cover demand.

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The largest imbalance since 2023

The gap between electricity demand and supply in September amounted to 560 million kWh. Reuters called this figure the largest since August 2023. India’s peak daily electricity demand since the beginning of the year was 45–50 GW higher than last year.

India’s Ministry of Coal said last month that domestic coal companies were increasing supplies to coal-fired power plants. At the same time, the latest data indicate that this proved insufficient to restore the balance between demand and supply.

In its September report, Coal Mid-Year Update 2026, the International Energy Agency forecast that total coal demand in India would rise by 4.2% this year, to 1.353 billion tonnes. The agency linked the forecast to higher electricity demand and disruptions to oil and gas supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.