"These measures will help us save around Rs900 crore annually and also bring down costs of coal-based thermal power generation by around 0.20-0.25 per unit. However, these are conservative estimates and fall in tariffs may be higher," a senior official from MahaGenco told dna.
In a slew of measures aimed at pulling down prices of power supplied to consumers in Maharashtra, the state electricity generation utility is swapping coal linkages to source fuel from mines closest to its power stations and sampling the quality of coal to curb grade slippages.
"These measures will help us save around Rs900 crore annually and also bring down costs of coal-based thermal power generation by around 0.20-0.25 per unit. However, these are conservative estimates and fall in tariffs may be higher," a senior official from MahaGenco told dna.
He added that the average cost of power generated by the utility, which has 7,980MW of its 11,237MW installed conventional energy capacity in coal, with the remaining comprising gas (672MW) and hydro power (2,585MW), had a weighted average of about Rs3.28 per unit, with that of thermal being around Rs3.70 per unit.
The official said they had an annual 15 million metric tons (MMT) coal linkage from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL). But, there were problems in realising this complete linkage. Hence, they have swapped around five MMT linkages from MCL's mines, which were 1,200-1,500km away, to those of the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) and Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL), which are closer.
Accordingly, the Parli thermal power project in Beed will now get 1.25 MMT coal from WCL's mines in Yavatmal, which are closer to it, while Bhusawal and Khaparkheda projects, will get coal from SECL.
"The swapping of coal linkages will help us save Rs185 crore annually through lower transportation costs," the official said. He added that instead of getting 1.01 MMT coal for Nashik thermal power plant from SECL's mines in Chhattisgarh, it is proposed that the project's proximity to port heads like Mumbai be leveraged to supply it coal which was imported for Khaparkheda project. This Khaparkheda project will get coal from SECL's mine, to which it is closer. This will help save up to Rs100 crore, he added.
The utility has also merged the CIF and transport contracts for importing coal, saving Rs100 crore in costs due to increased competition among bidders. Third party sampling regarding the quality of coal supplied by Coal India Ltd's (CIL) subsidiaries will also help save costs. Officials complain that supply of a lower grade of coal than what is contracted for and allocated leads to generation efficiency being hit.
Lower quality coal has a lower gross calorific value, which leads to boilers of thermal power plants operating at lower efficiency and generating lesser steam, affecting power generation, noted an official.
The price of coal is based on its grade and a slip up in quality, which will be detected by third-party sampling, will lead to difference in prices being adjusted in subsequent bills, he said. The MahaGenco official said the measure will save around Rs500 crore.
The MERC has allowed MahaVitaran to hike its power tariffs by 2.44%. The state claimed that purse-tightening has led to tariffs for certain categories of users like industries coming down.
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