Coal ministry agrees to allocate alternative block to Odisha PSU

Earlier, the ministry had provided the Tentuloi coal block for OTPCL's project, which was unsuitable for the power project

The coal ministry has agreed to Odisha's proposal to allocate an alternative coal block to Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) for its 2,400-Mw coal-based power plant proposed near Dhenkanal. OPTCL is a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC).

Earlier, the ministry had provided the Tentuloi coal block for the OTPCL project. But, Tentuloi being an underground coal block was unsuitable for the power project, despite its reserves of 1,234 million tonnes (mt). The Odisha government has been repeatedly appealing to the ministry to scrap the Tentuloi block and, instead, offer an alternative block to cater to OTPCL's requirement.

During a recent meeting with Coal Minister Piyush Goyal, Odisha's Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das reiterated the demand for an alternative coal block to OTPCL.

Being an underground coal reserve, Tentuloi block is difficult to mine. Most of the reserve is below 900 metre depth. Even with the use of best technologies, only two mt of coal can be extracted from this mine annually, while OTPCL's requirement for the power project is 16 million tonne per annum (mtpa).

OTPCL is setting up a 2,400-Mw coal-fired power plant at an estimated cost of Rs 17,000 crore. The power station has been proposed at Kamakhyanagar in Dhekanal district. The project needs 1,768 acres, including 1075 acres of private land, 684.2 acres government land and 8.7-acre forest land. 

The power purchase agreement (PPA) for sale of entire power to be generated by the OTPCL power station has been executed with Gridco, the state-owned power trading firm.