Coal news and updates

Captive power segment running at 45% capacity

June 10: The captive power plants in India are witnessing a lowly 45% capacity utilisation despite a high Plant Load Factor (PLF) of operating plants, according to the Indian Captive Power Producers Association (ICPPA).

“While the PLF is found quite high, in the range of 90-105%, overall capacity utilisation is very low, at only 40-45%,” a spokesperson of the association said.

This was so because, a large number of plants are either not getting linkage coal as per requirement, or are being offered high grade coal that is not suitable for generation due to cost issues. Besides, there is also a demand issue from time to time due to slackness in the end-product market.

As a result, less than half of the current capacity of captive units is currently in operation, he said.

The total capacity of captive power units, as per ICPPA estimate, is around 52,000-55,000 MW, of which around 45,000 MW is grid connected and the remaining 8,000-10,000 MW is running off-grid.