Coal news and updates

No progress yet on Essar Power’s shift to coal-fired plant

June 19: Essar Power Limited, which had announced in August 2013 that it will convert two of its gas-based power plants in Gujarat to coal-fired one due to lack of availability of domestic gas, has not yet made much progress, a source told ICMW.

“The plant is hardly operating because of low gas availability, but there is no update as such on going ahead with the plan to convert the plant to coal-fired one and shift the equipment of gas-based plant to Nigeria or any other operation where gas is not an issue,” the source said.

“The company has done basic engineering work, but the engineering design work is still going on. Once the design is complete, the company will float tenders or contracts,” the source added.

Acute scarcity of natural gas and high cost of imported LNG had taken a toll on Essar Energy's power business, forcing the company to take the decision to convert two gas-fired plants at Hazira and Bhander in Gujarat into coal-based units.