Power producer NTPC has suspended the plan to explore the river route to transport coal to its starved plants. The key reason is unavailability of long-term contracts to import coal, which is a pre-requisite to partner Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)?responsible for development of inland waterways in the country.
The suspension has come after two years of negotiations with IWAI to forge a partnership to feed its power plants at Farakka in West Bengal, and Barh and Kahalgaon in Bihar.
The two institutions had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008, as per which NTPC had to commit 2-3 million tonne (MT) per annum of coal for transportation by national inland waterway 1 that passes through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal on a long-term basis. IWAI had to carry out a feasibility study encompassing the economics of transporting coal through the river, and provide the necessary navigational infrastructure.
However, NTPC now feels that the requirement for long-term commitment of transporting coal is not feasible as the company does not import the fossil fuel directly. The power major imports the fuel from state-run Coal India (CIL), State Trading Corporation and MMTC.
NTPC has asked IWAI to negotiate with these trading firms to get the long-term commitments, a source in the know of development told FE. the most, NTPC could tweak its tender in a way that will encourage suppliers to prefer waterways wherever possible to transport coal.
IWAI had submitted its report to NTPC in February 2009, but the Maharatna power producer objected to the findings. Following this, IWAI revised the report in December 2009. NTPC claims that the study lacks credibility. On the other hand, IWAI maintains that the proposed waterway is a ?competitive logistics solution? for the transport of coal to the former?s power stations at a time when railways and roadways lack capacity to meet the requirement.
As per IWAI report, a thermal power plant consumes nearly 10,000 tonne of coal a day for generating 500 mw of power. A 60 wagon coal train can carry about 1,500 tonne of coal, which means about seven trains will be required per day for every 500 mw. Hence, for the 3,300 MW Barh Super Thermal Power Station alone, nearly 25 trains per day will be required. On the contrary, one barge can carry cargo equivalent to 15 rail wagons or 60 trucks, according to an NCAER study report of 2006.
Recent reports of Central Electricity Authority show that nearly 30 power stations have critical shortage of coal, with availability of the fuel for less than seven days. Stock of coal at several NTPC plants is super-critical.