Bharat Coking to supply coal to Panipat thermal plant
Manish Sirhindi
Tribune News Service

Panipat, June 15
In order to improve power generation efficiency, the authorities have decided to get coal from Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) in place of Northern Coal Fields Limited (NCFL) for its Panipat thermal power plant.

The arrangement has already been approved by sub group for short-term coal linkages working under the Coal Ministry.

Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) has been under fire from various quarters, including engineers, for failure of the Panipat Thermal Plant to generate power to its full capacity. Those manning the operations at the thermal plant had been lamenting that inferior quality of coal was being supplied to the plant which prevented the units from running to full load capacity. The coal for Panipat thermal plant was being procured from the NCFL’s Krishanshilla and Dudhichua collieries.

The state has an installed capacity to generate 3,480.50 MW of power, out of which the Panipat thermal has eight units, including three units of 110 MW capacity, two units of 210 MW, two of 250 MW and one unit of 117.8 MW capacity. But, the plant had failed to meet the generation targets year after year for the last six years.

Statistics show that other than the year 2006-07 when the plant outperformed a set target of 2,310 MW by generating 2,566.62 MW, it could never achieve the generation targets.

Meanwhile, the HPGCL has also decided to import coal from Indonesian coal field and blend it with Indian coal to improve efficiency. It has set a target to import 1.45 million tonnes of coal for the current year out of which 0.27 million tonnes had already been brought in.