25 domestic-coal based plants to import 50 MT coal in FY'14

Country's largest power producer NTPC will import close to 20 million tonnes in order to mitigate the shortfall in domestic supplies

Fuel supply shortage may force at least 25 domestic-coal based power plants to source around 50 million tonnes of the dry fuel from costlier imports in this financial year.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which has set a target of importing 82 million tonnes of coal for 36 power stations in this financial year, is expecting that over 60% of the targetted quantity will be utilised by the plants which have been designed on indigenous coal.

According to a CEA official, as many as 25 thermal power plants will consume 50 million tonnes of the imported coal.

The plants designed on domestic fuel, which will use imported coal include Reliance Power's Rosa thermal power plant, Tata Power's Maithon plant, Lanco's Anpara plant and Adani Power's Tiroda project, the official said.

Country's largest power producer NTPC will import close to 20 million tonnes for its three domestic-coal based plants in order to mitigate the shortfall in domestic supplies.

The company has said that it will import 16 million tonnes of coal on its own. The remaining quantity will be sourced through other agencies.

As many as eight power plants based on imported coal are likely to consume over 30 million tonnes of the fuel.

Kawai thermal power plant in Rajastha based on domestic fuel will also import 1.2 million tonnes of fuel as it is yet to receive coal linkage.

The fuel import target for imported coal-based plants in the last fiscal (2012-13) was 24 million tonnes, but the actual import stood at 31.5 million tonnes. This was mainly due to the commissioning of Tata Power's Mundra plant in Gujarat.

Coal India, which is India's largest coal miner and the primary supplier of the fuel to power generating stations, has lined up an investment of Rs 5,000 crore for the current financial year (2013-14) mainly to increase production.

The company, which produced 452 million tonnes of coal in 2012-13, plans to raise its capacity by 30-35 million tonnes per annum.