Indian power plants imported 4.798 MnT coal in Apr’17, down by 12% compared with 5.43 MnT in Mar’17, according to the data provided by Central Electricity Authority(CEA) report.
Out of the total coal imported during Apr’17, 1.078 MnT coal were imported by plants designed to operate on domestic coal for blending purpose while the plants designed for imported coal acquired 3.72 MnT during the month.
Coal Imports Sector-wise:
Plants Designed on Domestic Coal:
Plants designed on domestic coal lowered their imports by 14% M-o-M compared with 1.257 MnT in Mar’17.
Out of total 1.078 MnT acquired by these plants for blending, 0.332 MnT was acquired by 2 central sector plants, 0.409 MnT by state sector plants and 0.337 MnT by 3 private sector plants.
Coal imports from private plants dropped 37% M-o-M during Apr’17 compared with 0.535 MnT in Mar’17.
Plants Designed on Imported Coal:
Total Coal imports by import based plants also declined by 11% M-o-M compared with 4.173 MnT in Mar’17.
Coal imported by 11 Private power plants dropped to 3.571 MnT during Apr’17 compared with 4.06 MnT in Mar’17.
However, Imports from state-run plants rose 32% M-o-M during the month.
Sikka thermal power station operated by Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd(GSECL) has installed capacity of 740 MW but its two units of 500 MW(2X250 MW) is based on imported coal.
The plants acquire imported coal for 500 MW units’ operation every month. Coal imports from the plant increased from 0.113 MnT in Mar’17 to 0.149 MnT in Apr’17.
Major Coal Importers:
Adani Power acquired major coal for its two plants. The company imported 1.557 MnT for Mundra thermal plant located in Gujarat and Udupi power plant in Karnataka during Apr’17.
| Company | Power Plant | Capacity | Coal Imports |
| Adani power | Mundra Thermal Super Station | 4620(4X330,5X660) | 1.322 |
| Udupi Thermal Power Station | 1200(2X600) | 0.235 | |
| Coastal Gujarat | Mundra Ultra Mega Power project | 4000(5X800) | 0.689 |
| JSW Energy | Ratnagiri Power Station | 1200(4X300) | 0.331 |
| Vijayanagar Power Station | 860(2X130,2X300) | ||
| IL & FS | IL & FS Power Station | 1200(2X600) | 0.327 |
Source: PowerMin Report
Capacity in MW
Imports in MnT
Due to adequate availability of domestic coal, the Indian government is aiming to reduce import dependency and has recently formulated a new methodology for auctioning coal to private power producers with imported coal-fired plants.
Power Utilities imported 66.055 MnT coal in FY17.
Coal Stock at Power Plants:
India’s power plant utilities recorded a coal stock of 25.76 MnT at the end of Apr’17 against an opening stock of 31.13 MnT during the start of the month.
The power utilities received 45.89 MnT coal from CIL/SCCL, Captive mining, E-auctions and coal imports in Apr’17 while consuming 51.39 MnT coal during the month.
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