NTPC and power utilities fail to import sufficient coal
16-Jan-2010 By: Vinod Kumar Gupta

New Delhi: The failure to import sufficient coal for the thermal plants by NTPC and other power utilities there are at least 5 thermal plants where the coal stock is less than 4 days and are very critically placed.

According to Central Electricity authority report of January 14 2010, there are a total of 22 power plants with critical coal stock levels, wherein operations can be supported for less than seven days. Of these, 14 plants have extremely critical coal stocks, less than what is needed for four days of usage.

Out of the 14 thermal plants with very critical coal stock the 5 thermal; plants at Kolaghat, Farakha, Talcher, Kahalgaon and Kota are facing the coal shortage problem as the power utilities failed to import sufficient quantity of coal. NTPC is running Farakha, Talchar and Kahalgaon thermal plants. Kolaghat thermal plant is under West Bengal power utility while Kota is under Rajasthan power utility.

According to sources delay in importing coal by NTPC is one of the reasons for a substantial drop in generation from its plants at Farakka, Kahalgaon and Durgapur in the last two months. NTPC is to import coal with the help of CIL but they have not been able to finalise the quantity of coal to be imported.
The details of coal imported by individual utilities against their stipulated targets during the period April-December 2009 reveal that against total targeted quantity of 21.531 million tones (MT), only 16.198 MT have been imported till now.
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According to sources CIL has made several changes in its tendering process for procuring coal from abroad and had received CVC clearance for it. Till date, however, NTPC and other utilities are yet to spell out their firm requirement, preventing CIL from floating a tender. CIL is also proposed to use a certification agency for certifying the coal quantity and quality to be shipped by the foreign supplier.

According to sources, Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited, Punjab State Electricity Board, Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited and Orissa Power Generation Power Corporation Limited have not made any imports despite requests by Ministry of Power. NTPC, Reliance and Torrent AEC have made imports of coal pegged at 4.040 million tones, 0.548 million tones and 0.538 million tones respectively, against the targeted figures of 9.376 million tones, 0.376 million tones and 0.326 million tones.