Coal news and updates

CM seeks coal linkage for Vallur plant

As one of the units at Vallur thermal power plant, a joint venture between NTPC Limited and Tangedco, was always under shutdown, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Thursday asked Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu to provide more rail rakes to carry the coal from the mines to the port.

In a letter, the Chief Minister said the three units at Vallur (3x500 MW) thermal plants, run by NTPC Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited (NTECL - the JV), had been declared commercially operational. Out of the 1,500 MW, the State has been allocated about 1,045 MW.

Although the plant was capable of generating 1,500 MW of power at present, the generation was restricted on account of short supply of coal from the Mahanadi coal field, Talcher in Odisha owing to limited availability of empty rail racks at the mines.

As the Ministry of Railways was not able to provide enough number of empty rakes at the coal mines, one of the Vallur unit was under shutdown. Augmentation of coal supply would greatly help the State to meet the power State’s power demand that peaks during the summer, Mr. Panneerselvam said.

‘No Consent to Operate’

Meanwhile, official sources said the Vallur third unit, which was declared commercially operational last February, has not obtained the Consent to Operate (CTO) clearance from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

“As the TNPCB had not given the consent clearance, the coal supply was denied initially. Without the CTO, the Centre did not even recognise the existence of the third unit,” sources said. After the issue was taken up at the highest level in the government, the TNPCB is in the process of issuing the CTO.

Besides, the NTCEL would need 112 rail racks for transport coal from the Talcher mines to Paradip port for the three units at Vallur to be functional throughout the year but at present only 50 to 60 racks serve the purpose, sources said.

As the Talcher – Paradip rail line is heavily congested, another option is to make use of the Dhamra port. Meanwhile, the Tangedco officials said the problem of coal shortage was at first taken up by Chief Secretary K. Gnanadesikan who wrote letters to the Railway Secretary and Railway Minister.

source: http://www.thehindu.com