Coal news and updates

NTPC may face coal shortage on captive production delay

August 19: NTPC may face shortage of coal for its five upcoming units at three power plants if it fails to start production from its three captive coal blocks, a source said.

“The first two units each of Barh-II and Kudgi –I and Unit-1 of Vindhyachal-V, which will have a combined generation capacity of 3,420 MW, will face problems if production from captive blocks is not started on schedule,” the source said.

He said the coal requirement for two units of Barh-II is estimated at 6.6 million tons per annum (mtpa), while that for Kudgi-I and Vindhyachal-V is estimated at 8 mtpa and 2.5 mtpa respectively.

The first two units of Barh-II are slated to receive coal from the Chatti-Bariatu block while Kudgi-I (Unit-I and II) will get coal from the Bhalumuda block.

The required coal for Vindhyachal V (Unit 1) is expected to come from the Pakri-Barwadih block.

As per information available with ICMW, of the three mentioned blocks, production from Chatti-Bariatu and Pakri-Barwadih blocks are scheduled to come to production between December 2014 and June 2015. The company is yet to start initial work on the Bhalumuda block.