NTPC hopeful of utilising 100% fly ash next fiscal; invites EoI

State-owned power giant NTPC on Thursday said it has invited expression of interest (EoI) from interested parties for utilisation of 100 per cent fly ash produced at its various thermal power plants across the country.

The fly ash will be procured from NTPC's Vindhyachal, Rihand, Korba and Sipat super thermal power stations.

"The NTPC is aiming to utilise 100 per cent fly ash produced at its thermal power plants across the country in 2020-21. Thus the company has now issued EoI for the purpose from interested parties," a company spokesperson said.

The ash is proposed to be issued from the Shakurbasti Depot of Central Railside Warehousing Corporation (CRWC) in New Delhi and will be supplied in 40kg bags to interested parties.

The bags of fly ash would be sold on price discovered through auction. Initially, the bulk of the transportation would take place from Rihand and Vindhyachal.

The company is proactively looking at new avenues of fly ash management. The company has also signed 25 MOUs (memorandum of understanding) for supply of about 260 lakh m3 (cubic metre) of fly ash for road projects. The supply of another 160 lakh m3 ash is under process.

In year 2019-20, the NTPC is putting all efforts to achieve an overall ash utilisation of 75 per cent from across its power plants. In 2018-19, 38.8 million tonnes of fly ash for various purposes which constituted 63.71 per cent of total ash produced by the company in the fiscal. The company produces around 61 million tonnes of fly ash every year at its thermal power plants.

Further, ash parks / depots have been established in Varanasi and Rewa, while same at Raipur, Bhubaneshwar and Pune are under process.

R&D efforts are being fortified to make sure that fly ash is utilised in new ways. The NTPC has placed order for 3 rakes of BTAP wagons for bulk ash transportation of fly ash from its power stations to user industry as part of its ash utilisation plan.