India Races to Triple Coal Stockpiles to Prevent Summer Blackouts

India’s coal, power, and railway ministries are working jointly to boost the country’s stocks of coal ahead of next summer, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources. The target total is 55 million tons—a substantial boost from the current inventory, which amounts to 18 million tons.

The targeted amount should be secured by the end of the current Indian fiscal year, March 31. Currently, coal stocks are at their lowest since 2021, Bloomberg noted in its report. The amount in stock is only enough for six days of power generation from coal plants, which is much lower than the government requirement for at least three weeks’ worth of consumption. At some power plants, stocks are at a critically low level.

Last month, half of India’s coal power plants had critically low stocks, and the country was bracing for potential shortages after, in August, monsoon-related disruptions to domestic supply tightened the immediate availability and transportation of coal from the coal-rich producing states to the coal-fired power plants.

Now, Indian Railways is ramping up capacity to enable higher volumes of coal to reach power generators. Last month, carriage capacity for coal shipments went up by 20%, Bloomberg noted in its report, with the government demanding another 7% increase by March next year, according to unnamed sources.

Meanwhile, thanks to higher power demand and oil and gas disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, India is expected to see a 4.2% rise in its total coal demand to 1.353 billion tons this year, reversing last year’s temporary slight drop. That’s according to the International Energy Agency in its recently published Coal Mid-Year Update 2026.

The country is putting effort into diversifying with solar power, but the variable energy source cannot cover demand for baseload power from the world’s second-largest population.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com