Country?s largest power company, NTPC Ltd, has sounded an alarm to the ministry of power over chronic coal shortages forecast by Coal India Limited (CIL) for its three power stations. NTPC fears that lack of coal supplies may lead to some of its power plants getting stranded.
As against the decision of the standing linkage committee for long-term coal linkages to the tune of 27 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to NTPC?s three power projects at Kahalgaon and Farakka, CIL has now indicated that the requirement of 27 mtpa of coal supplies may not be forthcoming as per the committed schedule. A shortfall of 8 mtpa has been indicated by CIL for the three projects of NTPC including 1,600-mw Farakka, 840-mw Kahalgoan-I and 1500-mw Kahalgaon-II.
NTPC chairman and managing director T Shankralingam in a letter, dated October 11, to power secretary Anil Razdan, said, ?Both Farakka and Kahalgoan plants are operating with supercritical coal stocks of 3 and 4 days consumption and further loss of generation is apprehended if coal supplies are not improved immediately,? he said.
The short supply of coal, it said, had led to the shutdown of one 200-mw unit at Farakka for 6 days in September 2007, while the balance units had to be run on partial load.
?Stock levels of coal at both Farakka and Kahalgaon are at critical levels. Similar backing down may have to be resorted to Kahalgaon-I in the next few days once the existing coal stocks are exhausted,? the NTPC CMD said, adding, that it also feared that the new assets of 1,500 mw at Kahalgaon, expected to be fully operational by March 2008, may be stranded due to lack of coal.
The main reasons for the coal shortfall indicated by CIL, as per NTPC, appears to be the significantly reduced production at the linked mine Rajmahal, and indefinite delays in government clearances for commencement of the mine development work for the two designated mines namely the 4-mtpa Chuperbita and 3-mtpc Hurra-C, which were committed by CIL for production in 2007-08.
?Now it is expected that rated production for these linked mines can at best commence only in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Present Indian Railways infrastructure is also inadequate to handle additional freight volumes of 8 mtpa,? Shankralingam said, adding that the ministry of coal be requested to expedite development of Rajmahal expansion and other linked mine projects.
Also, as per NTPC, the issues need to be taken up with the railway board for further mobilising the existing infrastructure so as to handle the enhanced coal movement for domestic and imported coal.