Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:00pm GMT
HOUSTON, March 16 (Reuters) - Coal stockpiles at U.S. power plants rose 0.9 percent this week, but fell 2.7 percent below the same week last year, Genscape said Tuesday.
U.S. generators -- who rely on coal to fuel about half of U.S. electricity production -- had 56 days worth of coal on hand, same as last week, the power industry data provider said.
Companies averaged 2 days less coal stockpiled than the same week of 2009, 1 day less than last week's cushion, Genscape said.
Genscape estimated power generators as of Monday had 151.5 million tons of coal, up from 150.1 million tons stockpiled on March 8 but down from 155.7 million tons the same week last year.
The week-on-week rise followed warmer, stormy weather across the Midwest and North. That cut coal-fired power demand by easing heating needs and knocking out power to customers.
The year-on-year decline is due to a severely cold winter, a recovering economy and output cuts by miners during the economic slump to balance supply and demand.
Inventories typically grow in spring and fall when demand for heating and cooling drops. Stockpiles usually shrink during summer and winter when demand rises for climate control in homes, stores and factories.
Mathematical rounding sometimes affects the results, overstating some changes and understating others, Genscape has said.
The numbers reflect adjustments to the Genscape model and restatement of inventories for early 2009 due to distortions caused by unprecedented substitution of gas for coal in that period. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols)
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKNLLGEE62U20100316
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