Kolkata: Coal import by state government-run power producers in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu last fiscal was 1.4 times higher than in previous year, which some companies said was in part due to quality and logistics related issues in Coal India’s import substitution scheme.
NTPC’s import rose threefold to 960,000 tonnes. Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd, Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company Ltd, Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation and West Bengal Power Development Corporation imported a total of 6.9 million tonnes of coal in 2018-19 against 2.9 million tonnes in the previous year.
Coal IndiaNSE -0.46 % has promised fuel to power producers under a scheme to meet the shortfall in annual contracted quantity, provided they give an undertaking that coal import has stopped or will not continue. “It is learnt that some of the power plants holding fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with Coal India have not utilised this opportunity and are importing coal.
Therefore, it is requested that these power plants may apply to the marketing division of Coal India for sourcing of domestic coal as substitute of import by road mode from the sources where coal is available with Coal India,” Coal India said in a letter to power producers.
A senior Coal India executive said power producers have agreed.
Coal India has stocks of about 55 million tonnes, which would be used for power producers opting for the scheme. Regular production, targeted at 650 million tonnes this year, would be used for committed supplies to customers. However, if the demand from power sector increases substantially, Coal India may not be able to meet every customers’ requirement under this scheme.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com