FUND CRUNCH HITS COAL PROCUREMENT IN HARYANA
Major thermal plants face acute coal shortage
Manish Sirhindi /TNS

Yamunanagar/Ambala, October 31
The financial constraints being faced by the state power utilities has led to a shortage of coal stocks at the three major thermal power stations in the state where the stocks have dwindled drastically, placing the plants in the supercritical category.

As per the daily report published by the monitoring division of the Central Electricity Authority Operation, the 1360-MW Panipat Thermal Power Station (PTPS), which has a daily linkage of 18.3 metric tonnes of coal, including 2 MT of imported coal and 90 MT of indigenous coal, has less than four days of coal stocks.

The 600-MW Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Project at Yamunanagar which is non-operational for the past several months and has a daily linkage of 6.8 MT of coal, has a stock that would last 37 days. Here the 300-MW unit no. 1 which has been out of operation since September 35, last year, is likely to be revived within a few days, following which coal consumption would pick up.

The 1200-MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project (RGTPP) at Khedar in Hisar has been placed in the supercritical category as the stocks at present available here would not last more than four days. The plant has a daily linkage of 15.9 MT of coal.

The 1000-MW Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project at Jhajjar, which has a daily linkage of 13.4 MT of coal, has stocks which would not last more than seven days. At the 1320-MW Mahatma Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project, Jhajjar, the coal stock is barely sufficient for one day, bringing this unit in the supercritical category.

As per the official records, less receipt of coal has been cited as the main reason for the shortage of coal at the thermal units. However, sources in the power utilities, say that financial constraints being faced by the utilities had led to the coal crisis.

The sources said Coal India had recently turned down the power utility's request for enhancing the coal linkage to various thermal plants of the state for the year 2012-13. The power utility had requested for the conversion of coal grade from 'F' to 'D' for its 2x600-MW Khedar Thermal Power Plant, which had also been denied, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the sources said the shortage of coal was to be met through import of coal. In order to bridge the gap between demand and coal availability, the power utilities were expected to import around 159 million tonnes (MT) to meet the shortage in coal supply from Coal Indian Limited (CIL). This quantity of imported coal would be in addition to the 54 MT coal likely to be imported by thermal power stations designed on imported coal. Therefore, the total quantity of coal to be imported was about 213 MT.

However, the CEA report states that the HPGCL had been assigned a target to import 2000 million tonnes of coal but practically it imported no coal because of the financial crunch, the sources said.

The shortage of coal is also likely to hit the upcoming thermal power projects in the state. The state is planning a 660-MW capacity additional unit to the thermal unit at Yamunanagar as an extension of two 300-MW units each. The state is depending upon the coal block at Mara-to-Mahan in Madhya Pradesh which has estimated coal reserves of 956 million tonnes that were allocated jointly to HPGCL and the Delhi government. However, the steps required to develop this coal block are still under way.