Singareni Collieries to step up coal supplies to neighbouring states

The company will sell an additional 5-6 mt of coal outside Telangana, mostly to power utilities

Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) is planning to sell an additional 5-6 million tonnes (mt) of coal outside Telangana, mostly to power utilities in neighbouring states during the current financial year (FY).

Jointly owned by the state and the Centre with 51 and 49 per cent share-holding respectively, the company has targeted to achieve the total production of 66 mt this year — 6 mt more over the previous year's production volumes.

However, the targeted production is way behind the actual demand, according to SCCL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) N Sridhar. He says there is a demand for 88 mt of coal from power utilities and others, both within and outside Telangana.

The Telangana-based coalmine firm has signed an agreement with the Karnataka Power Corporation (KPLCL) on Monday to supply 8.1 mt of coal this year. This is about one mt more than what it has been supplying to the Karnataka power utilities till last year. It is in the process of finalising the agreements for more five mt of coal that will be available this year, according to a Singareni official.

Over 60 per cent of Singareni coal is consumed locally, mostly by the power utilities, including Telangana Genco, NTPC and Singareni-owned coal power projects, while little over 15 mt is being supplied to the power utilities in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. It had recently entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to supply coal to a power project in Tamil Nadu as well.

Coal supplies to Karnataka from Singareni is expected to cross 10 mt in the near future as the new 1,600 mw Yerramarru Thermal Power Power Station in the state will be fully dependent on this coalfield, the officials said. This year it will be supplying 2 mt to Yerramarru Thermal project for its first 800 mw unit, which is ready.