NTPC power plant slips into critical condition due coal shortage

The 3000 MW NTPC power plant at Kaniha, the second largest power plant in the country, has slipped into critical condition with barely one day coal stock at its stockyard.

The plant supplies power to about 17 states. Only 80,000 tonne of coal is stocked in the plant as on Tuesday just enough to run the unit for a day while the guide line of the Central Electrical Authority mandates minimum 14 days coal stock for all power plants, says a NTPC official.

He said, though the plant has faced coal shortage on several occasions in the past one year, the current situation is the gravest of them all. The actual stock at the yard is around 50,000 tonne, but added to other available stocks, the figure would be around 80,000 tonne.

Already there is two to three percent generation loss due to this coal shortage, he added.

NTPC plant is now drawing about 51,000 to 52,000 tonne of coal from different mines of Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd (MCL) against the normal daily consumption of 60,000 tonne per day. The linked Lingaraj mine is supplying 31,000 tonne against the normal of 37000 tonne per day.

Similarly from other mines of Talcher and IB valley coalfields, the drawal is about 21,000 tonne against the normal of 25,000 tonne per day.

This apart, the plant is receiving 5,000 tonne of imported coal on an average daily. The plant has received two lakh tonne of imported coal so far this year.

The official rued that the opening of the nearby Kaniha coal mine could not help the plant to tide over the crisis. “Even if the mine starts production now, then the power plant can not draw coal from it because there is no rail linkage to the mine. It would take minimum six month to lay the rail linkage to the mine situated at a distance of three kms from the plant”, he said.

The director technical of MCL, A.K. Tiwari, said, “In fact, we have supplied 90 per cent of agreed coal which is normal. We have enough coal but NTPC is unable to take the coal to the plant due to constraint in their railway track. MCL has always given emphasis on supplying as much coal to the power plant as required. But it is up to them to lift the coal”.