Coal news and updates

Piyush Goyal, minister for coal, power and renewable energy, has assured power producers on regular fuel supply and directed Coal India to provide a minimum of 60 per cent of fuel supply to all power generation companies.

 

In a meeting with members of the Association of Power Producers on Friday, the minister also said he would request the environment ministry to allow additional mining of coal."Private firms mining for coal would also be asked to sell the surplus amount to Coal India,"he said.

 

Goyal also shot down a proposal to split Coal India into different companies."Single holding company has its own benefit. It's not urgent to restructure Coal India, but it is imperative to improve the coal supply and quality,"he said.

 

The previous UPA government had indicated that Coal India could be split to improve coal output and end its monopoly. Goyal refused to discuss the issue of new gas pricing regime in detail because the matter was sub-judice. Power project developers have been complaining that natural gas fired power projects would become unviable and power prices would shoot up if gas price is doubled to $8.4 per mmbtu.

 

"The power producers decided to invest on assurance of supply of gas not price, which is market linked,"Goyal said, adding that the aim of government is fuel linkage for all.

 

He also made it clear that the government does not plan to change its policy on Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) despite some power producers deciding to stay away from the bidding process for such projects.

 

Earlier this week, power producers such as Adani Power, Tata Power, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Energy, Sterlite, CLP and GMR Energy decided to withdraw from the race for building two UMPPs with capacity of 4,000 mw each, opposing the existing bidding terms."We are open for ideas but without compromising on consumers' interest,"Goyal said.

 

The minister also said an inter-ministerial group would be formed to sort out the issues of coal and power sector. He would meet financial institutions on Monday to look into financing related bottlenecks faced by the power sector. 

 

 

Source: ET