随着印度发电厂煤炭库存骤降的影响在经济中蔓延，印度的工厂、冶炼厂和家庭正遭受停电和能源成本上升的打击。
Indian factories, smelters and households are being hit by blackouts and rising energy costs as the impact of plunging coal stockpiles at the country’s power stations ripples through the economy.
自2015年以来最弱的季风季节抑制了水力发电量，而高于平常的气温则推高了空调和农业灌溉的需求。这导致约占印度电力供应三分之二的燃煤电厂迅速消耗了其库存。由于电网供不应求，小型工厂、农民和家庭正面临断电。
The weakest monsoon since 2015 has curbed hydropower output, while hotter-than-normal weather has buoyed demand for air conditioning and farm irrigation. That has seen coal-fired power stations, which supply about two-thirds of India’s electricity, rapidly burn through their inventories. Smaller factories, farmers and households are facing power cuts as demand outweighs supply on the grid.
与此同时，由于国营矿企印度煤炭公司优先向并网发电机组供货，金属冶炼、化工和造纸等大型工业客户无法获得足够的燃料来自己发电。
Meanwhile, large industrial customers – in metals smelting, chemicals and paper – cannot get enough fuel to produce electricity themselves due to state-owned miner Coal India prioritising deliveries to grid-connected generators.
恰蒂斯加尔邦小型钢铁厂协会秘书长马尼什·杜帕德表示，该中部邦的小型钢厂正面临每天10到12小时的停电，迫使工厂减少产量。他说，钢厂需要“不间断的电力供应”。
Small steel mills in the central state of Chhattisgarh are facing outages of 10 to 12 hours a day, forcing plants to reduce output, said Manish Dhuppad, general secretary at the Chhattisgarh Mini Steel Plant Association. Mills require an “uninterrupted supply of power”, he said.
“比方说我们的炉子里有铁水，就在我们能够把它取出来之前，电力供应中断了。等电力恢复时，材料已经凝固了，我们需要再次将其熔化。”电力短缺凸显了极端天气对印度经济日益加剧的影响，而微弱的季风是由创纪录的厄尔尼诺现象驱动的。
“Say we have hot metal inside the furnace and just before we are able to take it out, the power supply goes. By the time it comes back, the material has solidified and we need to melt it again.”The power shortage highlights the increasing role that extreme weather is having on India’s economy, with the weak monsoon driven by a record El Nino.
这也表明该国对化石燃料的持续依赖正限制其应对气候变化的能力。
It also shows how the country’s continued reliance on fossil fuels is limiting its ability to respond to a changing climate.
根据电力部的数据，截至10月10日，印度近一半燃煤电厂的燃料供应已降至所需水平的四分之一以下。
Feedstock supplies at almost half of India’s coal-fired plants had fallen to less than a quarter of required levels as of October 10, according to the power ministry.
上个月，印度东部产煤区遭遇了一场突发而短暂的季风降雨，这加剧了短缺，不仅削弱了生产，还妨碍了燃料的铁路运输。在北部旁遮普邦，家庭和工业正在忍受长时间的停电。
A late burst of monsoon rainfall last month in coal-mining regions in the east of the country exacerbated the shortages, crimping production and also hampering rail transport of the fuel. In the northern state of Punjab, homes and industries are enduring lengthy blackouts. It is difficult to plan our operations and deliveries and affects product quality.
经营该邦工业城市卢迪亚纳一家钢丝厂的巴迪什·金达尔表示，频繁的三到四个小时的停电导致能源成本上升，因为他的工厂不得不改用昂贵的备用发电机。他说：“停电是没有规律的。”
The sudden stoppage and restart of machines also raises the risks of accidentsBadish Jindal, who runs a steel wire plant Badish Jindal, who runs a steel wire plant in Ludhiana, an industrial city in the state, said frequent power cuts of three to four hours had resulted in higher energy costs, as his factory needed to shift to expensive backup generators. “The power cuts are unscheduled,” he said.
“这使得我们很难规划运营和交货，并影响了产品质量。电力中断和恢复时机器的突然停机和重启也增加了事故风险。”印度电网公司的数据显示，在10月的前10天里，该国电网平均每天面临近4吉瓦的电力短缺。
“That makes it difficult to plan our operations and deliveries and affects product quality. The sudden stoppage and restart of machines as the power supply goes and comes back also raises the risks of accidents.”The country’s electricity grid has faced an average shortfall of nearly four gigawatts a day in the first 10 days of October, data from Grid Controller of India show.
根据彭博社的计算，这足以满足大约200万印度农村家庭的用电需求。
That is enough to power about 2 million rural Indian households, according to Bloomberg calculations.
代表大型工业用户的印度自备电厂生产者协会秘书长拉吉夫·阿加瓦尔表示，优先考虑并网电厂的政策让那些自行生产燃煤电力的公司处于严重劣势。
The policy to favour grid-connected power stations has left companies that generate their own coal-fired electricity at a major disadvantage, said Rajiv Agarwal, secretary general of the Indian Captive Power Producers Association, which represents the big industrial users.
他说，这些公司不得不支付印度煤炭公司拍卖的高昂价格，并从电网购买昂贵的电力。他还说，这些公司还不得不等待数月的铁路运输，因此那些运营资金有限的公司被迫减产。
They are having to pay high prices at Coal India auctions and buy expensive power from the grid, he said. The firms are also having to wait months for rail transport, so those with limited operating capital are being forced to cut output, he said.
印度煤炭公司9月份现货销售的平均溢价较底价飙升了94%，而8月份的这一差距为59％。
Average premiums at Coal India spot sales in September jumped to 94 per cent over the base price, compared with a 59 per cent difference in August.
这家矿企的数据显示，该公司的两家子公司——北方煤田公司和东南部煤田公司——在上个月的拍卖中收取了超过200%的溢价。印度煤炭公司没有立即回复置评请求。
Two of the company’s subsidiaries – Northern Coalfields and South Eastern Coalfields – charged more than a 200 per cent premium at auctions last month, data from the miner show. Coal India did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
对于那些从电网获得电力的人来说，在过去的几年里，大多数印度邦的电费都在上涨。
For those getting their power from the grid, bills have gone up in most Indian states over the past few years.
这是由煤炭价格上涨以及国家电网升级成本等多种因素共同驱动的。
That has been driven by a range of factors including rising coal prices and the cost of upgrades to the national electricity network.
当地粮蔗农民代文德尔·辛格表示，在印度人口最多的北方邦，沙姆利地区的某些村庄正面临每天长达7小时的停电，这促使许多居民购买能够运行电灯和风扇的备用系统。
In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous province, some villages in Shamli district are facing as much as seven hours a day of blackouts, prompting many residents to buy back-up systems that can run lights and fans, according to Devinder Singh, a local grain and sugar cane farmer.
他说，过去几年该国太阳能的快速发展意味着白天有足够的电力供他灌溉农田，尽管日落后会出现问题。辛格说：“我们勉强凑合。我更担心的是不断上涨的电费。”
A rapid buildout of solar in the country over the last few years means there is enough power for him to irrigate his fields during the day, although problems occur after sunset, he said. “We somehow adjust,” Singh said. “My bigger concern is the rising cost of electricity.”