Coal news and updates

Essar Power launches reverse e-auction platform to source coal

Essar Power has launched an exclusive reverse e-auction platform to import coal for the 1,200 MW Salaya plant in Gujarat.

The platform, in operation for three months now, has 30 registered miners and traders participating from Indonesia, Australia, South Africa and Colombia.

Once a month, Essar Power puts up information on the platform on the quantity and quality of coal required, and suppliers quote their prices. The auction, conducted over three hours, pops up the lowest bid every 10 minutes so that participants can revise their prices as required.

Essar Power MD Sushil Maroo said this is the first time that a reverse e-auction platform is being used to source coal, and plans are on to invite miners from the US to participate.

Expressing confidence that the reverse e-auctioning will work even in a sellers market, he said the company has managed to reduce its coal cost by 10 per cent in the last three months.