The announcement came amid media reports that Punjab’s energy crisis is deepening as 14-hour cuts hit factories and farms. | Photo Credit: MUKESH GUPTA
The Center has taken steps to ensure supply of coal to independent power plants in Punjab from Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd’s (PSPCL) own mines, an official statement said on Sunday.
Sufficient quantity of coal has been made available to power plants in Punjab and Coal India Limited (CIL) remains fully committed to ensuring uninterrupted supply of fuel for power generation across the country, including in Punjab, the coal ministry said.
“Higher utilization of PSPCL’s own power plants, monitoring of accidents at IPPs, and timely shipment of coal already offered by CIL subsidiaries will help optimize power generation and meet the state’s needs,” the ministry said.
The announcement came amid media reports that Punjab’s energy crisis is deepening as 14-hour cuts hit factories and farms. Reports have attributed the decline in power generation from Punjab’s thermal power plants to plant shutdowns and insufficient coal supplies.
The Ministry of Coal and Coal Mining clarified that this does not give the full picture. “The central government has been actively facilitating the supply of coal to IPP in Punjab since the commencement of production from its own mines,” it further said.
Regarding coal supply to Punjab, the ministry said that with Nabha Power Limited’s (NPL) (Rajpura) average consumption of around 4.3 rakes per day during the last three days, rakes’ supplies averaged around 5 rakes per day and with Talwandi Sabo Power Limited’s (TSPL) consumption of around 3.8 rakes per day, supplies averaged around 5 rakes per day.
Until September 2026, the average supply was around 4.9 rake per day for NPL and 4.1 rake per day for TSPL, which is higher than the average consumption of these IPPs.
Suggesting that Punjab needs to improve shipments from PSPCL’s own mines, the ministry highlighted that PSPCL’s central Pachhwara mine between April 2026 and September 11, 2026 saw production at 83.67 percent of the annual target and shipment at only 68.44 percent of target.
“This gap indicates the accumulation of undrawn reserves in the mine to the tune of about 3.21 lakh tonnes, which the State should evacuate to generate more power from PSPCL’s own power plants,” it noted.
Published September 13, 2026