Coal shortage to hit power capacity plans in India

Saturday, 25 Feb 2012

Business Line reported that the Indian power ministry, in its report to the Planning Commission, has informed that coal availability and capacity addition during the XII Plan paints a very very bleak scenario raising questions about achieving 9% growth during 2012-17.

With Coal India Limited production projected to be around 615 million tonnes against the XII Plan requirement of 842 million tonnes, the situation is likely to be very bad.

A note submitted to the Planning Commission states that “It may be noted that the availability of coal, as indicated by CIL, would support only about 19,000 MW of CIL linked new capacity during the XII Plan, as against 38,000 MW required. Accordingly, the XII Plan target of 76,000 MW would need to be scaled down to about 57,000 MW.”

To sustain capacity addition of 76,000 MW proposed in the XII Plan, fuel availability and related concerns need to be ensured. By the end of the XII Plan, the coal requirement would be around 842 million tonnes against the availability through linkage of around 450 million tonnes, coal blocks 100 million tonnes and imported coal 54 million tonnes. In addition to this, power utilities are likely to import 159 million tonnes to bridge the shortfall of 238 million tonnes.

The note states that credit exposure limit of banks and IFCs to the power sector is almost close to the breaching limit. It also points to mismatch in debt tenor (15 years) and cash flows (over 25 years). This issue is further complicated by the absence of uniform land acquisition policy that has held up a large number of projects coupled with delays in according environmental clearances to power projects/captive coal blocks. There is also the issue of poor financial health of distribution companies.

The total capacity addition during the XII Plan has been proposed at around 76,000 MW which will roughly comprise 62,695 MW based on coal fed projects, 2,800 MW of nuclear power, 9,200 MW of hydro power and 1,086 MW of gas based power.

(Sourced from BL)

Coal GoM to meet on March 1

Feb 23, 2012

New Delhi: Amid the country facing an acute coal shortage, a ministerial panel, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, will meet on March 1 to address the environmental issues that hurt the coal output.

"The Group of Ministers [GoM] meeting will take place on March 1. It will deliberate on the environment issues that is hampering production of coal," an official told PTI.

The development comes in the wake of widening demand-supply deficit of coal which is pegged at 137 million tonne this fiscal.

Coal Secretary Alok Perti has yesterday said that "fast-tracking clearances is the only answer," as 100 odd projects of Coal India (CIL) were pending at different stages for various clearances affecting production.

CIL, which accounts for 80% of the domestic production, has been pleading that it is not in a position to increase output for want of geen clearances. It has kept its output target for the current fiscal at 440 million tonne, just a marginal increase over 2010-11.

The official said that the issues will be deliberated in the proposed meeting of the 12-member panel which might meet once more sometime in early May.

The GoM was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February last year to iron out issues impeding dry fuel production. It had earlier decided to do away with contentious 'go' and 'no go' classification by the Environment Ministry.

Earlier this month, the Centre has asked all the states to send proposals without delay for clearances of coal blocks that were either rejected by the Environment Ministry due to their falling into no mining zone or have been pending for long.

Coal and Environment Ministries had locked horns over the issue after the latter had in 2009 classified 203 coal blocks under 'no go' area prohibiting mining there, impacting 660 million tonne coal production per annum.

(sourced Business-Standard.com)

The curious case of coal crisis

Experts say captive coal reserves' output minimal private players call no-go policy biggest dampener

Sun,Feb 12, 2012
New Delhi : With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office working on urgent measures to address the ‘coal crisis’, the private power industry’s hue and cry over the issue seems to have subsided for now. Experts, however, say private developers have no right to complain, as they have failed to develop their own captive coal reserves over the past two decades.

Currently, India requires 690 million tonnes (mt) of coal a year to fire plants, largely in the infrastructure sectors of power and steel. Domestic production was originally expected to touch 680 mt by the end of the current Plan period in March. This was scaled down to 630 mt in the mid-term appraisal and again to 554 mt at present, creating a 136 mt gap between demand and supply.

Interestingly, apart from the slowdown in production from state-owned Coal India (CIL), the private sector accounts for a bulk of the dip in production. Of the 208 captive coal blocks allotted since 1993, with a whopping 49 billion tonnes (bt) of reserves and a production potential of 657 mt per year (a notch less than India’s annual coal demand), the estimated production is a dismal 37 mt per year from only 27 captive blocks the private sector has been able to commission so far.

“While there is no denying CIL’s production has come down, the private sector has also failed to increase production to expected levels. This might be related to delayed clearances in some cases. But the private sector’s tendency to grab blocks and continue to sit over them for long is also to be blamed,” said Amrit Pandurangi, senior director at accounting and consultancy firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

The lack of captive output has led to the government's coal production plan going completely awry, as projected production from captive blocks had to be brought down from the initial 104 mt to 81 mt in the mid-term assessment, and again to 56 mt, in line with the overall shortage. CIL’s expected production, too, had to be brought down from the 486 mt projected in the mid-term assessment to 447 mt now.

“In a number of cases, captive block holders have been slow in exploiting the block. Their problems have been primarily that of environment, forest clearances and land acquisition,” the Planning Commission said in its recent review of the coal sector’s performance during the current Plan period.

Taking note of the dismal progress in the development of captive blocks, the coal ministry had conducted a review last year. Threatening cancellation of their captive coal blocks, the ministry had issued showcause notices to 84 companies, including Tata Steel, Reliance Energy, Vedanta Subsidiary Sterlite Energy, GMR Energy, Lanco Group, Jindal Steel and Power and the world’s largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal. Blocks held by several firms, including NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation, were cancelled.

Last month, an 18-member delegation of power company chiefs, including Tata Power chairman Ratan Tata, Lanco Infratech chairman L Madhusudan Rao, Reliance Power chairman Anil Ambani and Naveen Jindal, a Congress member of Parliament and chairman of Jindal Power Ltd, approached the prime minister and other key ministers, alleging their investments were hit. This followed the severe coal crunch for power stations in November.

The private sector does not agree that delays in developing captive blocks have played a major role in augmenting the shortages, and attributes the slump to unavailability of linkage coal. “Captive blocks have been delayed because of land and environment clearance issues. The nation lost over two years because of the ‘no-go’ policy. CIL’s production has stagnated,” said Ashok Khurana, director general of the Association of Power Producers.

The power sector’s requirement of coal in the current financial year is estimated at 470 mt. The sector is likely to suffer an overall shortage of 70 mt.

, with CIL supplying 343 mt, Singareni Collieries 33 mt and an additional 22 mt from captive mines. However, according to the Planning Commission, the shortfall can be easily met with 50 mt of imports, which is equivalent to 70 mt of domestic coal.

“Even otherwise, the 70 mt of pithead coal stocks with Coal India can be liquidated to meet the entire shortfall. So, where is the crisis?” asked a senior CIL official. The company has seen a 1.6 per cent decline in production between April and January 2011-12. The company’s output remained flat at 431 mt in the financial year ended March 2011.

(sourced BS)

Coal ministry to auction 54 blocks on upfront payment basis

Monday, 12 Dec 2011

ET recently reported that the Indian coal ministry has decided to auction 54 blocks on upfront payment basis but might not offer mines to power companies. The ministry is mulling a proposal to earmark blocks to states that can call competitive bids for power supply.

The coal ministry has also decided that blocks will not be given free to government companies.

A senior coal ministry official said that blocks with over 18,000 million tonnes of reserves would soon go under hammer in the first round of competitive bidding. The government has not awarded single coal or lignite block for captive use to private companies since October 2008.

The coal ministry would initiate auction within a month by putting the list of blocks on its website. Information on estimated reserves, exploration status and environmental clearances would also be provided.

The ministry official said that "Based on comments received from stakeholders, we have decided to bid coal blocks on the amount of upfront payment a bidders agrees to pay. We would soon put the list of blocks earmarked for each sector including steel and cement.”

He, however, said there is confusion over power sector for which blocks may be earmarked to states at reserve price. The official added that "The objective is to avoid double bidding for power companies that after January 2011 have to participate in tariff-based bidding to bag power supply contracts from states.”

(Sourced from ET)

Coal minister opposes proposal for sale of coal by block holders

Monday, 12 Dec 2011

PTI reported that the Commission, in a letter to the ministry had suggested that incentives could be provided to block holders for the development and production from the mines by allowing them to sell coal.

Coal ministry has said in reply to the Plan panel that "The value of the mineral held by the captive coal holders is very high in terms of today's prices and block holders will be unduly benefited if permitted to sell coal. If the suggestion of the Planning Commission is agreed to it will pave the way, allowing captive block holders to make huge profits.”

Contending that only 28 coal blocks out of 193 allotted to various power, steel and cement firms in the past 18 years for captive use have come to production, the ministry is of the view that if they are permitted to sell coal they would not show interest in bringing up their end use plants.

The coal ministry said that "...If a part of these reserves are diverted... Block holders would again turn to government for making available equivalent amount of reserves for meeting their requirements sometime in future after extracting profit from reserve...If they start selling coal, they would never show interest in bringing up end use plant.”

Contending that the block holders were allotted mines free of cost for power generation, it added that the proposal of selling coal will not only lead to government's criticism but would allow firms to take undue advantage of the allocation.

(Sourced from PTI)

India to seek ‘special status’ from Indonesia in allocation of coal blocks

Tue, Dec6, 2011

New Delhi : The Government has said that it will seek Indonesia’s cooperation for the accord of “special status” to Indian companies in the grant of coal blocks, a move aimed at bridging the widening demand-supply gap for the dry fuel at home.

The Ministry of Coal will “... impress upon the provisional government/regional government to allocate blocks under their special status (most favoured nation type) to Indian government coal companies...,” the Coal Ministry has said.

Seeking the allocation of coal blocks on a “nomination basis”, an official document of the Ministry has said it will be sending a team from the Coal Ministry and CIL to Indonesia to pursue the matter.

The decision to approach the Indonesian Government was taken at a meeting of an India-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Coal on November 24 and 25.

Seeking the allocation of large greenfield (new) coal concessions on a nomination basis, the Ministry will also impress upon the Indonesian Government the need for expeditious environmental and forest clearances, besides smooth land acquisition.

Coal India (CIL), which accounts for 81 per cent of domestic coal production, recently said that it has zeroed in on two overseas coal assets, including one in Indonesia, for acquisition and expects to begin a serious dialogue with the owners soon.

The PSU has put together a war-chest of Rs 6,000 crore for the acquisition of the mines.

At present, the country is faced with a coal demand-supply shortfall of 142 million tonnes, with domestic output likely to amount to 554 mt in the current fiscal.

Keywords: Special status, coal blocks, Indonesia, CIL, mines

Sourced Business Line

Indian coal ministry considering royalty share - Report

Tuesday, 06 Dec 2011

Live Mint reported that the Indian coal ministry is considering a change in a forthcoming legislation that could lead to an increase in the price of the fuel for end users.

The change relates to the way benefits are to be passed on to the local community by miners such as Coal India Ltd and Singareni Collieries Co Ltd, which sell the commodity in the open market.

The draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill requires them to give the people affected by mining activities 26% of profit.

The ministry wants that to be changed to a share in royalties, according to two senior government officials with direct knowledge of the matter. Both spoke independently of each other and declined to be named. They said, however, that a final call had not been taken on the issue.

One of the two officials said that the coal ministry is of the opinion that a royalty share could be passed on to users, leaving profit intact. The official said that “If companies are asked to share 26% profit, it directly impacts their bottom line. Royalties, on the other hand, were pass through.”

Both officials said such a move was unlikely to alter the money that the communities would get.

The Union cabinet approved the draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill on September 30th. While it stipulated a 26% profit share for coal mining companies, non-coal miners are required to share royalties.

A group of ministers approved the draft Bill in its current form on 7 July. The original version had sought a 26% profit share for non-coal miners as well.

Following this, in October, the coal ministry had written to the finance and mines ministries, suggesting that captive coal miners also be asked to share profit along the same lines as companies selling the fuel in the open market.

(sourced from Livemint.com)

Indian government proposes coal regulatory authority for coal sector

Friday, 02 Dec 2011

Mr Pratik Prakashbapu Patil minister of state in the ministry of coal while replying a question in Rajya Sabha said that the government proposes to set up a Coal Regulatory Authority for coal sector. In this regard, a draft Cabinet Note along with draft Bill, 2010 on setting up of a Coal Regulatory Authority was circulated to various Ministries/Departments for their comments.

The comments of concerned Ministries/Departments have been received. However, it was noticed that some major changes/suggestions have been made by various Ministries/Departments. At present, suitable incorporation of these changes/suggestions is being examined in consultation with the Ministry of Law. Once finalized the draft Bill would be submitted for the approval of the competent authority.

Setting up of a regulatory Authority for coal would require appropriate legislation to be passed by the Parliament. Hence, it may not be possible to indicate the exact time frame for setting up the said authority.

Investment for coal development in Indian

Wednesday, 30 Nov 2011

Mr Pratik Prakashbapu Patil minister of state in the ministry of coal informed the Rajya Sabha that following steps are being taken by Coal India Ltd to enhance coal production and productivity:-

1. Improving capacity utilization by improvement in efficiency and modernization.
2. Implementation of ongoing projects in a time bound manner to achieve targeted production as per schedule.

3. Efforts being made by all the subsidiaries for obtaining Environment/ Forest Clearance (EC/FC) within the scheduled time frame so that projects could start production in time.

4. Continuous liaisoning with the State Government agencies to acquire land for identified & expansion projects.

As per available information, the coal imports by various consumers, during the last three years, were as under:-

The following steps were taken/are being taken by Coal India Limited to encourage private investments for coal development and to acquire new technologies:

1. Seven green field underground coalmines / blocks have been identified for development, construction and operation at high capacity with state of the art technology on turn-key basis.

2. 18 abandoned / derelict underground mines with estimated reserves over 1600 MT, not been worked for reasons of safety and economy, have been identified for salvaging, rehabilitation and operation with risk-gain sharing basis.

Thrust on automation and use of Information Technology in opencast mines. 11 existing mines are to be equipped with Operator Independent Truck Dispatch System for which tendering has been done.

Indian coal ministry to soon put 51 to 54 blocks for bidding

Tuesday, 15 Nov 2011

Faced with an alarming coal crisis on the back of higher import cost and fewer resources within the country, coal ministry is planning to come out with a list of 51 to 54 coal blocks with resource potential in excess of 11 billion tonne by the end of this month. The ministry is expected to begin the tendering process in next couple of moths.

Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal union minister of coal told Financial Chronicle that "I can confirm that the ministry is has identified in excess of 50 blocks with resource potential over 11 billion tonnes. But these blocks have not come for my clearance yet."

The minister said the blocks would be given to public and private sector companies. Mr Jaiswal said that "Our intention is to provide Coal India with sufficient stock that it can take care of its needs for the next 30 years. While the remainder would be given to the state and the public sector companies and the remaining to the private sector companies for captive use.”

The whole bidding process would be completed in next two-three months, after which the E auction process would be started. Mr Jaiswal said that “Though 10% of CIL's coal is already given through e auction, we would provide e auction on priority basis to power companies like NTPC if they can take coal by road. The coal would also be available to cement and steel companies.”

People close to the development told Financial Chronicle that 51 blocks which have been identified are mostly in Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal and the remaining distributed across various states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Out of 51 blocks on offer, only seven blocks are fully explored while the rest of them are regionally or partially explored. These 51 blocks identified by the ministry are from 17 coalfields, some of them being Talcher (6 blocks), Godavari (3 blocks), Hasdeo-Arand (3 blocks), Mand Raigarh (5 blocks) and Raniganj (8 blocks).

An industry official told FC that the draft published by ministry of coal requires some clarity on four bidding options provided to bidders.

The draft specifies four options for competitive bidding first, a one time bullet payment, second, a payment linked to production, third option would consider a one time bullet payment with weightage given to parameters like same state priority. The fourth and the last option would look at production linked payment with weightage to current power or steel or fertilizer generation capacity.

According to the ministry of coal website there are 229 (148 existing and 81 newly identified) coal blocks for allocation to specified end users and government. The 208 coal blocks have so far been allocated to eligible companies. So far, production has commenced in 26 coal blocks (14 private and 12 public) and the production from these coal blocks for the year 2009-10 was 35.313 million tonnes and for the year 2010-11 (up to December, 2010 prov) was million tonnes as reported by the Coal comptroller’s office.

(sourced from mydigitalfc)

Centre hikes Gujarat state steam coal quota

Tuesday, 15 Nov 2011

Indian Express reported that the central government has decided to increase Gujarat’s quota of coal from Western Coalfields Ltd for four thermal power stations of the state.

BJP MP of Ahmedabad (East) Mr Harin Pathak said that in response to his representation made in Parliament on August 23, Minister of State for Coal Mr Pratik Prakashbapu Patil replied in a letter (October 23, 2011) that as per his demand, the ministry had decided to increase Gujarat’s quota for Gandhinagar, Ukai, Vanakbori and SIkka.

All four plants are owned by the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd. He said the demand for higher quota from Western Coalfields are raised in view of its proximity to the state.

The request was examined by the Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Coal for rationalisation of sources for the existing consumers of coal. The Task Force recommended rationalization of sources of coal in respect of 12 thermal power plants, which include the four of GSECL, the minister told Pathak in his letter.

(sourced Indianexpress)

India likely to raise coal tax issue with Australia and Indonesia

Monday, 14 Nov 2011

Live Mint reported that India may raise with Australia and Indonesia the issue of policy changes that has made coal imports expensive for Indian companies that own mines in the two countries.

Indian coal minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal said that “We shall try to initiate talks with Australia and Indonesia. The Indian government will most certainly take up this issue. We have also raised it and will request MEA also to take it up. But we need to know with some authority that this has been done for sure. We need an authentic letter and then we will tell the MEA that due to this there will be a big impact on coal imports so kindly look into it and ask for some relaxation so that imports are not impacted.”

These interventions will affect the financial viability of imported coal based power projects such as TATA Power Ltd’s Mundra project and Reliance Power Ltd’s Krishnapatnam project both of 4,000MW each because their fuel costs are set to overshoot expectations.

Rising demand at home prompted Indian and Chinese companies to invest in the coal sector in Australia and Indonesia, causing prices of thermal and metallurgical coal to rise and leading governments there to seek a greater share of revenue. While Indonesia has implemented price benchmarking to capture higher royalty and income taxes, which are pegged to the price of coal, Australia has imposed a Minerals Resource Rent Tax a tax on profits generated from the exploitation of non renewable resources, levied on 30% of so called super profits accruing from the mining of iron ore and coal in Australia.

(Sourced from Livemint.com)

Dispatch of coal to power firms a priority: Govt to coal miners

Tuesday, 1 Nov, 2011

NEW DELHI: Amid a severe disruption of electricity supply in different parts of the country due to an acute coal shortage, the government today said it has advised coal companies to ensure priority movement of the dry fuel to power stations to improve generation.

"The Ministry of Coal is regularly reviewing the coal stock position with the power plants of the country and government coal companies have been directed to give the highest priority to coal dispatches for the power sector," an official statement said.

In a bid to improve the stocks position at power stations, a total of 141 rakes carrying coal were dispatched to various units on October 30, it said.

"In addition to that, seven rakes and another 1,88,000 tonnes of coal were dispatched through the MGR (Merry-Go-Round transport mode, an exclusive arrangement made by the power stations themselves) to the power stations," it added.

In October, the railway load dispatched daily from CIL sources was 157 rakes, out of which 128 rakes were destined for power stations.

As per data released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 33 power plants with a total generation capacity of 39,054 MW across the country were facing an acute fuel shortage and had coal stocks for less than four days on October 28.

Power plants usually maintain 10-15 days of coal stocks. The situation is considered critical if the reserves fall below seven days' generation requirement.

The Coal Ministry said, "The stock position in the power stations of northern India has also been continuously reviewed. The average loading to these stations during the current month has been 44 rakes per day."

On October 30, a total of 51 rakes were dispatched, out of which 24 rakes were sent to the power stations of Uttar Pradesh alone. While three rakes were dispatched to the Unchahar plant, the Dadri project was sent 10 rakes. In addition, the thermal power station at Faridabad was sent 10 rakes and the Panipat plant four rakes.

During the last three days, 166 rakes have been dispatched to power stations in northern India. Regular coal supply is being maintained to power plants in Andhra Pradesh as well.

The Coal Ministry has attributed the shortage of coal to a number of factors, including lower production by Coal India on account of heavy rains in August-September and a strike at Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL), which has been called off.

Regular coal supply from SCCL has been restored, the ministry said last week, adding that it will take some more time for these plants to build up their coal stocks.

( sourced Economic Times)

CM to move Centre over coal mining proposal

Oct 30, 2011, |TNN

NAGPUR: Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has decided to organize a meeting with union ministry of coal (MoC) to sort out the metro region coal mining issue. About 60,000 hectare land in Nagpur metro region has been declared as coal bearing area. As per norms, a no objection certificate (NOC) from MoC is needed for development in such areas. A controversy has erupted ever since Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) furnished this information to Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT).

Officials of WCL and NIT met Chavan on Saturday afternoon on this issue. NIT chairman Pravin Darade told Chavan that the agency was having major problems in planning of metro region due to the coal bearing area restriction. The CM told WCL officials that the state government was not in favour of new open cast mines in the metro region. A communication in this regard would be sent to MoC soon.

WCL and NIT also mutually agreed that no mining activity will take place within five km radius of the city. Only Godhni and Bokhara areas are within this limit.

Later addressing a press conference, the CM said that there was no problem with underground mines as the area of land to be acquired was far less. "We will have economic development of metro region along with coal mining."

However, NIT and NMC officials had told the CM that underground mining too would create hindrances in development as there are a lot of restrictions in areas located above underground mines.

The CM has not taken much interest in solving the Mor Bhavan bus stand issue. He had promised to solve the issue in seven days during the winter session of the state assembly. When asked about his promise, Chavan just said that talks were on, but did not elaborate.

He said that the government had sanctioned a Rs 110 crore package for providing interest-free loans to cotton ginning mills. However, when asked about the proposed textile parks in Vidarbha he said that the state government was formulating a textile policy. He also put the ball in Centre's court when asked about provision of minimum support price to cotton growers.

On Jairam Ramesh' suggestion to implement EGS through rural development department, he said that the government had a coordination committee and the proposal would have to be decided by it. "We have not promised anything to Ramesh."

(sourced TOI)

Coal ministry to display list of 54 coal blocks for allocation within 15 days

Sat,Oct29, 2011

PTI reported that the coal ministry will display within 15 days the list of 54 coal blocks to be allocated through competitive bidding and government nomination.

A 3 official said that "In another 15 days, we will come out with the list of 54 coal blocks to be given away through competitive bidding and government dispensation route." He added that the list of blocks will be displayed on the ministry's website.

He further said that these 54 blocks will be hopefully allocated in 2011.

Earlier the ministry had indicated that certain blocks out of 54 acreages that were tipped to be put up for competitive bidding will be awarded on a nomination basis. The government had not identified the reserves to be given either through nomination or competitive bidding.

The official said that "The exercise for identifying the blocks is under way."

In September 2011, the ministry had said it would allocate five blocks to NTPC through the dispensation route to help the state run power generating company meet requirement of its four thermal projects.

Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal coal minister had said in May 2011 that the proposed competitive bidding round for coal blocks in the country would be held soon. The proposal for auctioning the blocks through competitive bidding was first mooted for the first time over two years ago.

(Sourced from PTI)

Indian Coal ministry constantly monitoring supply to power projects

Wed, Oct26, 2011

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday said it was constantly monitoring coal supply and stock position at power plants. The coal ministry said a total of 181 coal rakes were dispatched to consumers on Monday, of which 147 rakes went to the power sector.

In addition seven rakes and another 1, 77,000 tonnes of coal was dispatched through merry-go-round and exclusive transportation ties ups.

The overall average rail loading from Coal India Ltd sources was 156 rakes per day, of which 127 rakes per day were dispatched to the power stations.

The ministry in an official statement said coal stock position in power stations in northern India is also being continuously reviewed. Average loading to these stations during the current month has been 43 rakes per day.

On Monday, a total of 53 rakes were dispatched, of which 26 rakes were dispatched to Uttar Pradesh, nine to Rajasthan, eight to Haryana, seven to Delhi and three to Punjab power stations. During the last three days alone, a total of 146 rakes have been dispatched to the power stations in northern India.

"The coal companies have been advised to ensure priority movement of coal to the power stations of the country and their coal availability is improving," the ministry statement said.

(source ET)

Mr Pratik Prakashbapu to probe low coal production at MCL

Saturday, 22 Oct 211

According to Mr Pratik Prakashbapu Patil Union Minister of state for coal, he would enquire into the reasons behind low coal production in the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.

Mr Patil said he was informed about low production of coal in MCL mines due to heavy rains and other difficulties in the area.

He said that "Therefore, I have specially come to see why the supply of coal has come down, adding that he would ascertain whether it was rain or some other reason.”

Official sources said Patil would visit some of the MCL mines of Talcher tomorrow and hold discussion with different stake holders.

Earlier, NTPC, NALCO and many other captive power plants and independent power producers had lodged complaint against the MCL over inadequate supply of coal for their consumption. Even, NALCO had been importing coal to run its CPP in order to supply power to its smelter at Angul.

sourced from moneycontrol

Pvt power firms for level-playing field in coal allocation

Sun,October 16,2011

New Delhi:Private power companies in a letter to the Coal Ministry has asked for a level-playing field in allocation of the natural resource and printed out that imports is not the solution to country's fuel problem.

"Supply of low and varied quantities of indigenous coal may lead to serious functional ramifications for the power plants," Ashok Khurana, Director General, Association of Power Producers said in a letter to Coal Secretary Alok Perti.

"The boilers here can accept only a blend of not more than 15-20% of the imported with domestic coal," he said, adding that this technical constraint makes it difficult for the existing thermal plants to provide undertaking for accepting unspecified quantity of imported coal.

Khurana also said that coal is a scarce natural resource and it must be distributed on the basis of its efficient use and in a manner to maximise benefit to the end consumers of power.

Coal should be allocated, based on the merits of projects and not on the basis of ownership, he said.

The Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) are granted for a period of five years, whereas the commitment of supply of energy under the power purchase agreement is between 25-30 years...

....For a developer to meet it's obligations to the procurer, there cannot be any disconnect between PPA and FSA, he added.

The lenders would also be extremely reluctant to finance a project which has no sustained and assured supply of fuel, he said.

(sourced BS)

Coal ministry to pull up CIL for missing production targets in Q1

Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011

PTI reported that Coal India Limited has blamed its failure to keep to production targets in Q1 this fiscal on rains and delays in securing green clearances, but the Indian coal ministry is in no mood for excuses and has called a meeting this week on the issue, where it is likely to berate the Navratna PSU's top brass.

An official in the coal ministry said “Coal India will be pulled up for missing its output target in the production target review meeting to be held this week.”

The meeting, to be chaired by Indian coal minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, will be attended by officials of the coal ministry, CIL CMD Mr NC Jha and the CMDs of all the subsidiaries of CIL.

CIL had blamed early rains and inclement weather in the eastern region for playing spoilsport in achieving its 98.7 million tonne coal production target for the first quarter. In addition, a plethora of problems like delays in the grant of green clearances for its projects hurt production by CIL, which missed the April-June target by 2.4 million tonnes.

(Sourced from PTI)

NTPC asked for status report on deallocated coal blocks

Friday, 07 Oct 2011

BS reported that against the backdrop of the power ministry asking it to review the decision to deallocate NTPC five coal blocks the Coal Ministry has sought progress report from the state owned firm on development of mines.

A source in the Coal Ministry said that "Last month, the Ministry of Coal wrote a letter to NTPC and had asked the power major for the progress report on the coal blocks, including the development of the end-use plants for which the mines were allocated."

In August, Power Minister Mr Sushilkumar Shinde wrote a letter to Coal Minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal asking for a review of its deallocation decision. Earlier, the Power Secretary had requested the Coal Secretary to review the government's decision to deallocate the coal blocks and restore them to NTPC.

The coal ministry had deallocated five coal blocks of the country largest power producer, NTPC, over its failure to develop the blocks within the time frame stipulated in the production sharing agreement.

The five block are
1. Chatti Bariatu
2. Chatti Bariatu
3. Kerandari
4. Brahmani
5. Chichiro Patsimal were awarded to a joint venture between NTPC and state run Coal India.

The coal ministry had decided to deallocate mines awarded to companies that had failed to develop them in a time-bound manner on the recommendations of a panel that reviewed the progress made by steel, power, cement and other firms in developing 88 coal and lignite blocks allotted for captive use.

The coal ministry had cancelled the coal blocks of Damodar Valley Corporation, Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation, Tenughat Vidyut Nigam, Bihar State Mineral Development Corporation and the Jharkhand State Electricity Board.

(Sourced from Business Standard)