Coal news and updates

The grading is expected to be finer and more reliable than that done by other organisations

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has signed an annual Rs. 250-crore deal with several state-run coal and thermal power companies to certify the quality of the coal being supplied and used in their facilities. The certification will help power plants use coal appropriate to the machinery and technology available in the plant and contribute to efficient use and, in the long run, reduce emissions, officials said.

“We now have a robust mechanism for proper inspection of coal and overtime [this] will lead to an improvement in the quality of coal,” Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said. “NTPC [National Thermal Power Corporation] has reported a 20 per cent reduction in cost of coal through it.”

The Dhanbad-based CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR), Dhanbad, a constituent laboratory of CSIR, will be doing the certification and it expects to analyse about 300 million tonnes of coal samples per year. While the grading of a coal would be voluntary and organisations affiliated to the Coal Ministry would have already checked the quality of coal, the CSIR’s grading would be finer and more reliable. “This would definitely be a value addition because of the processes and testing technology available with CSIR,” said Gurdeep Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, NTPC.

There have been disputes between power companies and coal suppliers over the quality of coal. Last week several power distribution companies in Delhi reportedly filed a petition with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission accusing the NTPC of supplying poor quality coal and overcharging. The NTPC had responded that the coal was supplied by Coal India Ltd. and only a ‘third party’ could impartially decide on the quality of coal. India’s coal is known to be of high ash content and of a lower quality, compared with that of several countries, that has forced many private companies to import coal.

Source: The Hindu