Power players look for Coal through e-auctions to ease the alarming fuel crisis

Wednesday, May 18, 

In a meeting called by the Prime Minister, major power players of India pressurized the Government to lessen the threat of coal crunch, seen in the near future.*

To way out from this crisis, they have proposed two solutions, which include diverting coal from the e-auction process to upcoming projects and liquidating the coal stock lying at pitheads. These steps could free some 80-100 million tonnes (MT) of coal for immediate use.

In a petition, the Association of Power Producer (APP) representing private developers including Tata Power, Reliance Power, Essar, Lanco, Jindal Power has suggested diversion of Coal India’s e-auction sales, specifically to projects that are coming up on assurances of fuel from the state-owned coal-mining firm.

During the quarter ended December 2010, a rough estimation was that Coal India sold around 48 million tones nearly 12 per cent of its production through the e-auction.