Petcoke demand is rising in India, and the latest to join the fray is Hindalco Industries Limited (HIL).
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has granted environmental clearance to HIL for blending Petcoke, upto 70%, with coal to run its existing 467 MW captive power plant at Hirakud in Odisha.
The company has opted for using Petcoke to run the power plant due to cost considerations, arising out of higher costs of coal vis-à-vis costs of Petcoke.
Subsequent to the de-allocation of the Talabira-I coal block, HIL became dependent on e-auctions for procuring coal. Although, coal mines have been allocated to the company in Chhattisgarh, the long distance between the plant and the mines renders landed costs of coal becoming higher. To off-set the high landed costs of coal, HIL has opted for Petcoke, the landed costs of both imported as well as domestic variants are lesser than that of coal.
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