There is a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.
With a myriad of issues and challenges facing the Power sector, many power
projects in the country have either been shelved or stalled. One of the major
challenges which they are facing is the supply of fuel. The sector is in dire
need of a boost as Coal and other fuel supplies fell far short of projections
and their linkages became even rare.
The state owned coal producer: Coal
India Limited (CIL) is ramping up productions and removing off take bottlenecks
to ensure adequate stock of coal at the power plants. The issue for supply of
coal to the power plants was recently addressed by Ministry of Coal, Gov. of
India.
For power plants which are stressed
or in short supply of coal for the reason that they do not have coal block or
linkages or do not have long term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA ), a separate quantity within the e-auction
quantity has been earmarked for power sector so that assets created are put to
use and they do not turn into NPAs. A separate e-auction scheme namely Special
e-Auction Scheme, 2015 for power producers was formulated by CIL and approved
by Govt. of India. Under this scheme, 10 Million ton of coal is to be made
available for bidding by power plants (IPPs only) having Long/Medium/Short term
PPAs or having no PPA at all. For
the purpose the special e-auction for power plants having Short-term or no PPA was conducted by MSTC in the month of Sep’2015.
The special e-auction was conducted
on 30th Sep 2015 for which 25 prospective bidders registered with
MSTC. The registration was done in a short period of 4-5 days and it went
smoothly and effectively. Major power producers like Jindal Power, Adani, GMR , RattanIndia, BLA Power, Dhariwal and many more
showed their interest and registered with MSTC for the said e-auction. Many
subsidiaries of CIL namely Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL ),
Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), South
Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) and North Eastern Coalfields (NEC)
participated in the special e-auction and offered 5 Million ton of coal from
various sources. The grades varied from G-2 to G-9 and size of coal offered was
ROM and Steam. The offered price for the various grades ranged from ₹1638.00
to ₹6818.00. The offer was mainly for dispatch by Rail mode.
This initiative by the Govt. of
India and CIL has widened the window for sourcing coal for the stressed power
sector which shall further benefit the general population of India and this
action has added a new chapter in the growth of our economy.
A new hope is visible on the
horizon for the digital & shining India.
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