Coal news and updates

NTPC says no to CIL proposal of setting up own washeries

April 22: Even as Coal India Ltd (CIL) urges the end users of coal to set up their own washeries to get clean coal, NTPC Ltd, the largest power utility in the country, has ruled out venturing into coal beneficiation.

“As a major consumer of coal, we would like to receive washed coal from Coal India. Why should we do the washing ourselves? That is not our domain,” a senior NTPC official said on the sidelines of a recent conference on coal beneficiation in Delhi.

While hailing the spurt in domestic production, especially by CIL, in 2014-15, the official said the power utility is ready to reduce imports if washed coal is made available domestically.

“Quality of coal has deteriorated over time and this is affecting availability of reliable power in the country. The need of the hour is to improve the quality of coal. Ideally, this should be done through beneficiation, in the absence of which, we have to blend domestic coal with imported coal,” he said.

Currently, NTPC receives washed coal for three of its plants, namely Dadri, Badarpur and Unchahar. In 2013-14, the utility received 5.98 million tons (mt) of washed coal from Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) washeries.

CIL director (marketing) B K Saxena has recently urged the end users to come up with own washeries. He has also asked the captive block owners to do the beneficiation themselves to increase availability of washed coal in the country.