|
|
|
|
Centre looks at letting power plants to use 10% imported coal blend
|
|
|
|
| Top Stories |
 |
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 13 Oct, 2021
The government may allow power plants facing fuel shortages to blend
upto 10 per cent imported coal and run their plants at optimal capacity
to prevent any outages.
As part of the exercise to prevent power
plants from reducing their supply due amid rising demand, the
government, as per reports, has decided to allow coal-based plants to
import fuel and blend it upto 10 per cent of the total requirement.
Blending
local coal with imported ones has been practiced in the past to get
better caloric value and improve the efficiency of power plants. The
country's largest power producer NTPC has also used blended coal at its
power plants to offset lower heat generated by high ash content of local
coal.
Power sector analysts, however, said that with imported
coal prices touching the roof, with widely-used Indonesian coal's prices
soaring from $60-70 in April to about $180-190 a tonne now, it would be
tough for power generators to use this expensive coal without getting
to raise the electricity tariff to offset higher cost. One of the
reasons for brimming power crisis in the country is reduced coal imports
due to exorbitantly high prevailing prices.
The development on
coal imports comes at a time when Coal India Ltd said that its
dispatches are higher than last year and problem of shortages being
reported in the country would be addressed in a few days.
As part
of the exercise to deal with the crisis, the Centre on Tuesday also
warned states of snapping their share of unallocated power if this is
not being used to meeting needs of consumers but being sold on power
exchanges at a higher rate for gains.
Several states including
Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh are
reporting severe stress in their power situation in wake of fuel
shortages at coal-based plants while an unprecedented increase is seen
in demand due to the post-pandemic rapid recovery in economic
activities.
A Power Ministry statement said that it has been
brought to its notice that some states are not supplying power to their
consumers and imposing load shedding. At the same time, they are also
selling power in the power exchange at high price. The fresh action on
unallocated power is to prevent misuse of this portion of energy.
The
government is also looking at getting the renewable energy sector to
ramp up production to meet the unexpected rise in demand.
But
the situation on coal-based power stations remains serious with about
115 out of 135 plants with just three to four days of coal stocks.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Customs Exchange Rates |
| Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
84.35
|
82.60 |
UK Pound
|
106.35
|
102.90 |
Euro
|
92.50
|
89.35 |
| Japanese
Yen |
55.05 |
53.40 |
| As on 12 Oct, 2024 |
|
|
| Daily Poll |
 |
 |
| Do you think Indian businesses will be negatively affected by Trump's America First Policy? |
|
|
|
|
|
| Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
