India’s largest power producer, NTPC, has lined up several fresh tenders for procuring imported and domestic coal at a time home-grown supplies are struggling to keep pace with the elevated power demand.
The company mainly procures coal from domestic miners Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) via long-term fuel supply agreements (FSAs). Besides, it has also secured a few captive coal blocks from the government to satiate its requirements.
However, in view of the soaring temperature in peak summer, demand for power has increased and has impacted operation at NTPC’s power stations too. Evidently, half of its plants have coal stock of less than 7 days of power generation, as per data provided by the power ministry.
Coal inventory at NTPC Power Stations
Source: Power Ministry, Capacity in Mega-Watt | Data compiled as on 20 Apr’22
The latest tenders feature coal sourcing chiefly via imports. However, the company has also sought requirement for domestic coal this time.
This is not the first time the company has resorted to imports this year, but has been floating tenders for coal purchases in batches. Earlier, it had issued tenders for importing close to 8 mnt for its standalone power plants as well as those operated by the subsidiaries, in January 2022.
Total coal imports by NTPC have surged 94% y-o-y to 1.91 mnt over April 2021-February 2022 compared to 0.99 mnt in the corresponding period in FY21.
Latest tenders for coal procurement
At present, the tender process for procurement of 4.93 mnt of imported coal is active. These are specifically for power plants owned by NTPC.
Separately, the company’s joint venture, Meja Urja Nigam (MUNPL), has sought 0.5 mnt of imported coal at its Meja plant located in Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, bids have been invited for procurement of 2 mnt domestic coal having gross calorific value in the range of G13 or higher.
Quantity in mnt
These tenders would be carried out by means of competitive bidding against which coal is to be delivered on FOR basis. Coal imports by company is likely to reach 16 mnt in FY23, which is particularly high compared to the lows seen in the recent fiscals.
Leave a Reply