Ahead of summers, which is expected to see an uptick in power demand (during the periods of April-June and August-October), the Power Ministry has operationalised 1,744 megawatts (MW) of gas-based power capacity, largely with the State-run NTPC. It will be operational during the March-October period.

The monitored natural gas-based power plant capacity as on January 31, 2025, is at 23,636 MW, Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik said in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha.

“(The) Ministry of Power from time to time has brought out schemes for competitive procurement of power from gas-based power plants during high-demand periods of power supply. A total of two such schemes have already been implemented and under the latest scheme, operationalisation of gas-based capacity will commence from March 16 till October 15,” he added.

During April-May, 2023, the Ministry had operationalised 1,010 MW of gas-based power capacity. Similarly, around 860 MW capacity was operationalised during March-June, 2024.

In a bid to promote Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), the Centre has put LNG imports under Open General Licensing (OGL) category, thereby allowing power plants to import LNG on mutually-agreed terms with sellers, the Minister informed the upper house.

The Ministry expects peak power demand (day) to hit 270 gigawatts (GW) in the current season, compared to 250 GW recorded during May last year.

Coal stocks

Presently, coal stock position of thermal power plants (TPPs) is at a five-year high. As on March 9, 2025, pan-India stocks at TPPs was at 55.9 million tonnes (mt) – sufficient to run these plants at 85 per cent PLF for about 19 days.

After domestic coal supplies improved, the Ministry did not extend an advisory to Gencos over blending of imported coal beyond October 15, 2024.

Besides, all captive coal blocks have been advised to maximise coal production to supplement the coal supply from domestic companies. Moreover, imported coal-based (ICB) plants have been issued a statutory direction to stock coal and generate power during high-demand periods.

Preparations for summers

The Ministry has issued directions to ICB plants under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to operate and generate power to their full capacity till April 2025, which will be extended till June 2025.

Gas-based power plants of NTPC as well as other generators are being scheduled to serve during high-power demand periods. Besides, all Gencos have been advised to generate and maintain full availability daily, excluding the period of planned maintenance or forced outage.

Hydro-based generation is being scheduled in a manner so as to conserve water for meeting demand during peak period.

Also, the planned maintenance of power generating units is being minimised during the period of high demand as was done last year.

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