'Electricity export to Bangladesh can't be done using domestic coal'

Targeting NTPC for supplying Bangladesh electricity generated using cheap domestic coal, the Association of Power Producers has written to the government saying such sale violates extant policy and hurts interest of domestic power consumers.

The lobby group, whose members include Tata Power, Reliance Power and Adani Power, asked the government to issue a clarification stating that cross-border supply can be done only of electricity generated using imported coal or the one produced from coal bought through competitive bidding and not through allocations made for meeting domestic demand.

Last month, state-owned NTPC had won a bid to supply 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity to power-starved Bangladesh by beating Adani, PTC and Sembcorp of Singapore.

The association in the March 26 letter to the Power Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said the tender for electricity by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) required bidders to take consent of Indian government if "the power generated from the respective power plants using domestic coal can be exported to Bangladesh throughout the contract period (of 13 years)."
The association wanted the power ministry to issue an "instruction" stating that "the coal supplied under domestic linkage or coal from captive mines given for power sector, cannot be utilised for BPDB long-term contracts."