The Standing Linkage Committee (long-Term) for power sector has scheduled a meeting to discuss the prospects of providing extension in temporary coal supplies to power plants which have yet to start production from their allotted coal blocks.
State power Gencos of Uttar Pradesh (UPRVUNL), Chhattisgarh (CSPGCL), Telangana (TSGENCO) and Maharashtra (Mahagenco) have sought an extension from the linkage committee as they have failed to start production from their respective coal blocks.
Based on the allotment of coal block, the Standing Linkage committee had granted Bridge Linkage to the state-run power plants for 3 years from the date of allotment of coal block. However, after failing to start production at their captive blocks, the power gencos were demanding an extension of the coal supply contracts.
Bridge Linkage was coined by the Ministry of coal, which was entitled to act as a short term coal linkage to bridge the gap between requirement of coal of a specified end use plant of Central and State PSUs and the start of production from the linked allotted coal mine/ block.
As per the bridge linkage policy, the linkage is granted for a fixed period of 3 years from the date of allotment of coal block and no further extension thereafter entertained under normal circumstances.
The standing linkage committee is likely to address the plea of the power plants regarding the extension of coal supply and will also review the agenda of transfer of coal linkage of deleted units to new super critical power units, in its meeting which is scheduled on 27 Jun’18.
Detailed agenda of the meeting along with the concerned issues of the power gencos are elaborated below:
Regarding time extension of Bridge linkage for power plants:
| Power Genco | Beneficiary Power Plants | Allotted Linkage Status | Remark |
| UPRUVNL | Harduaganj Extn TPP (1 X 660 MW), Jawaharpur TPP ( 2 X 660 MW), Obra C ( 2 X 660 MW),and Panki Extn TPP (1 X660 MW) | Saharpur-Jamarpali coal block was allotted in 13 Aug’15. The power genco has applied for PL whose approval is due from Coal Ministry/ Jharkhand Government. | The power genco has expressed its inability to start coal production from its block by 12 Aug’18, which marks the end of the bridge linkage duration, and hence requested the committee to extend the bridge linkage for further 6 years i.e. up to Aug’24. |
| CSPGCL | Marwa TPP (2X 500 MW) | Gare Palema Sector-III coal block was allotted in 14 Sep’15. The power genco has stated that production from mine is expected from May’19 and full capacity shall be achieved by 2022. | CSPGCL has requested to extend the bridge linkage and enhance the supply quantity from 3.78 MnT to 5.6 MnT, on account of higher coal consumption at the plant. |
| TSGENCO | Kakatiya TPP (1 X600 MW) | Tadicherla-I coal block was allocated in 31 Aug’15.Coal mining operation has commenced in Dec’17 and removal of over burden is in process. Peak rated capacity will be achieved by 2020-21. |
TSGENCO has requested to extend bridge linkage for a further period of 3 years beyond 30 Aug’18. |
| MAHAGENCO | Chandrapur Unit 8 & 9 (2 x 500 MW), Koradi Unit 8,9 & 10 ( 3 x 660 MW), Parli Unit 8 (1 x 250 MW) |
Coal production from Gare Palma-II is delayed due to delay in getting approval of Forest & Environment clearances. |
Mahagenco has requested to extend the bridge linkage for further three years i.e. up to Aug’21. |
Regarding transfer of coal linkage of deleted units to new super-critical units
Apart from extending the temporary coal linkages, Mahagenco and UPRUVNL have also requested the committee to transfer the available coal linkages from the decommissioned units to the new super critical units.
Mahagenco has discarded its old units in phased manner due to expiry of their useful life or poor inefficiency, which were incurring high generation costs. The total coal linkage available against the decommissioned/retired units is 10.290 MnTPA, which the power genco wishes to utilise for its operational super critical power units at Koradi (3 X660 MW) and Bhusawal TPP (1 X660 MW).
On similar lines, UPRUVNL has also desired to transfer its 16.02 LT coal linkage which were procured after scraping the old power units to Harduaganj Ext TPP (1 X 660 MW), which is expected to start its commercial operation in Jan’2020.
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