Odisha urges MCL to set up coal washery in JV with OPGC

The Odisha government has written to Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a subsidiary of Coal India (CIL), suggesting establishment of a 10 million tonne (MT) per annum coal washery in joint venture between MCL and Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).

The letter sent by state energy secretary G Mathivathanan also incorporates a proposal for setting up of a CFBC (Circulating Fluidised Bed Combustion) boiler based power plant under the same joint venture to use the rejects produced from the washery. 

It may be noted, OPGC, a 51:49 joint venture between the Odisha government and the US based utility firm AES, gets coal from the Ib valley coalfields of MCL for its 2X410 MW power plant at Banharpali in Jharsuguda district. However, it is observed that the quality of coal keeps on varying depending on the season of the year, quality of seam, location of the mine etc.

The letter said, the varying quality of coal supplied by MCL to OPGC severely impacts the operation of the power plant, mainly in terms of loss of generation, excess oil consumption to support the boiler stability during monsoon, tripping of boiler on flame failure, need of frequent maintenance and high load on ash disposal system and ash ponds.

Hence, the government argued, it would be prudent to use washed coal for the power plant of OPGC. 

Stating that the proposed project will be a win-win case for MCL, state and OPGC, the letter said, establishment of the washery will help improve the quality of the raw material, capacity utilization and generation of power at OPGC while MCL can make use of the excess washed coal available to it for selling at a premium. 

The government said, it will extend all support in making the project successful and assured that a detail proposal for the joint venture and the operational model will be presented by the Managing Director of OPGC soon.