Coal news and updates

NTPC seeks more coal from CIL, SCCL to increase stocks

December 12: The supply of coal from domestic sources like Coal India and Singareni Collieries to NTPC’s power plants has improved to a great extent in recent weeks but the power generator feels there is need to further increase supplies to help it build up its stocks.

“There has been an improvement in domestic coal supplies to a great extent and this is normal during winter. But still there is scope for improvement in supplies,” a senior official from NTPC told ICMW.

Normally, supplies of domestic coal to power plants increase during the winter months as favourable weather conditions lead to significant increase in production in most of the open cast mines, an industry source said.

“It is not only the increase in production of coal, but demand for electricity too falls during winter. A combination of increase in coal production and fall in electricity demand helps power plants build up coal stock positions,” the source added.

“Some plants (of NTPC) are still facing a critical coal stock situation but overall the situation is better compared to what it used to be a few months back,” the official added.

“However, I would not say the overall supply is normal because instead of total requirement of about 550,000 tons of coal per day the current average supply is about 450,000 tons,” the official said.

“We need an additional 100,000 tons of coal per day to build up our stocks,” the NTPC official said.