Coal news and updates

NTPC PLF falls 2.84% in first 9 months in FY16

Asia’s largest power generation company, NTPC Ltd, has added a total of 2,405 MW capacity during the first nine months of 2015-16, but its total power generation during the period fell marginally due to nearly a 3% fall in the plant load factor (PLF).

The decline in PLF, mainly from gas-fired plants, resulted in a drop in power generation despite a nearly 6% increase in capacity addition and could be attributed to low demand for power in the country, industry sources said.

Coal supply to the company during the nine months of 2014-15 (April-December) was slightly down to 121.07 million ton (mt) as compared to 121.39 mt received during the same period in 2014-15.

The decline in coal supply was largely on account of a fall of more than 3 mt in imported coal receipts to 8.35 mt from 11.49 mt last year even as domestic coal received increased by almost similar quantity to 112.72 mt from 109.90 mt last year.

The company said in a release that its installed power generation capacity stood at 45,548 MW as on December 31, 2015, up 5.57% from 43,143 MW as on December 31, 2014.

However, the company’s total power generation during the nine months of 2015-16 (April-December) stood at 179.64 MW, down marginally from 179.94 MW generated during the same period of 2014-15.

The PLF during the nine months of 2015-16 fell to 61.65% from 64.49% last year mainly on account of a sharp fall in the PLF of gas-fired plants to 27.55% from 34.98%. The PLF of coal-fired plants during the nine months of 2015-16 fell to 77.70% from a high of 79.41% during the same period of the previous financial year.

Source: ICMW