Coal shortage-hit NTPC plants to double imported coal use

NTPC Ltd, India’s largest electricity generator, is planning to blend up to 30% of imported coal at its Farakka and Kahalgaon power plants to overcome power shortage during summer this year. The company currently blends 10-15% imported coal with domestic coal at these plants.

“The blending of imported coal would be possible in summers as at that time there is acute shortage of power. The increased cost of blending imported coal with the domestic coal will be commercially viable in summer as there would be buyers in the market even for expensive power,” said Arup Roy Chowdhury chairman and managing director, NTPC.

The cost of producing power will go up by up to 30 paise if the blending is increased with expensive imported coal at these plants. NTPC’s current per unit cost from thermal power plants come to around `2.5-`3 per unit.

The plants at Farakka in West Bengal and Kahalgaon in Bihar have been running at low Plant Load Factor (PLF), a measure of the capacity utilisation of a power plant, due to shortage of domestic coal. The average PLF for all NTPC plants is above 90%.

Farakka and Kahalgaon projects have been facing coal shortage for more than a year. NTPC is also planning to increase the production by 500 mw from these plants.

The company has got an assurance from Railways for increased coal supplies for these plants.

The Farakka and Kahalgaon stations have a total installed capacity of 1,600 mw and 2,340 mw, respectively.

The two projects faced critical coal shortage in the past due to transportation hurdles from the Rajmahal mines in Jharkhand allotted for these plants, thereby leading to low electricity generation.

From over 27 power stations across the country the total installed capacity of NTPC is around 33,194 mw. The company is currently constructing power projects with a capacity of 17,000 mw.