India extends mandate for imported coal plants to run at full capacity

India on Friday extended its mandate for imported coal-based power plants to operate at full capacity until Feb. 28, a government circular showed.

In October, the government had invoked an emergency clause to direct companies including Tata Power, Adani Power and Vedanta, to operate their imported coal fired plants till Oct. 15 and had further extended the mandate till Dec. 31.

Imported coal-based power plants in India have a combined annual capacity of nearly 16 gigawatts.

India's coal-fired power output had fallen for a second straight month in September due to slower growth in electricity use and a surge in solar generation.

The country's imports of thermal coal plunged 31.8 per cent, its fastest rate of contraction in fifteen months, in October, Reuters had reported earlier.

India's overall coal-based power generation over April-September rose by 5 per cent from a year earlier, government data shows.  (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)