Battling heatwave and in desperate need for power, the Rupee-rouble payment may go live
The country is staring at another power crunch as it bakes by the minute. This time, India’s power ministry has set a delivery target of 19 million tonnes of coal imports by end of June 2022 – in a bid to secure supplies at a good price to mitigate increasing power outages.
Rhetorical requests
A stubborn heatwave pushed electricity demand to a record high in April, leading to the worst power crisis in 6 years. The federal government asked state state-owned utilities to import over 22 million tonnes of coal and private power plants to import 15.94 million tonnes, through a letter shown to Reuters.
As per the note to top officials at state energy departments and heads of private power plants, India’s power ministry asked all utilities to ensure delivery of 50 per cent of the allocated quantity by 30 June 2022, another 40 per cent by end-August, and the remaining by the end of October. While utilities are not obligated to honour the federal government directives, 2 government officials who attended meetings related to rising power demand said that states were warned of blackouts if the suggested quantities were not imported. Private companies including Adani Power, Tata Power, Reliance Power, Jindal Steel and Power, Torrent Power and Sembcorp have been given import targets, the letter revealed.
Revisit the Rupee-rouble system
Russia is now the obvious supplier with lots to spare, combine that with India’s urgent need to stockpile for the country’s power needs – there are not many options available. The other coal exporters are cashing in on the heightened demand and no country would be willing to pay mega dollars if they have better alternatives. While there were no further mentions of the Rupee-rouble system which was touted to be an optimum way to get around the sanctions, India’s heatwave and the government’s directives may just be the push needed to get it live.
The letter added, “’All the state generation companies and independent power plants must submit weekly management information system report by every Friday to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), and to the Ministry of Power about port wise indents placed, arrival and delivery of imported coal plant wise.”
