Indian power producers are seeking to boost coal imports as domestic supplies have not been fully sufficient in view of total requirement.
The country’s largest power producer, NTPC has lined-up several fresh tenders for imported coal procurement to strengthen its overall fuel security. This comes after the power ministry had asked utilities to ramp up imports, mainly for blending with domestic coal.
Driven by substantial growth in power demand post easing of lock-down restrictions, the plants had witnessed higher coal consumption to an extent that the existing inventories were consumed to satiate the demand.
Notably, coal inventory at the plants had fallen to a 3-year low of 11.41 million tonnes (mnt) at the end of Sept’21. Since then, the plants have been on a recovery mode to replenish the depleted stock.
On its part, domestic miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) scaled up its supply to the power sector, increasing by nearly 24% y-o-y to 390.18 mnt during the Apr-Dec’21 period.
The growth rate in dispatches was maintained in Jan’22 too, with the miner supplying an average of 1.87 mnt of coal per day in the first 24 days of Jan’22, which is 10% higher than 1.69 mnt/day assessed in Dec’21.
However, despite the elevated coal supply, the power plants are facing difficulty in maintaining adequate inventories at a time when coal based power generation is rising steadily.
With an improvement in coal supply, the inventory levels have reached to a 6-month high of 25.02 mnt as on 23 Jan’22, but it was still 32% lower than the year ago levels.
Latest tenders issued by power companies
At present, the tender process for procurement of around 7 mnt of imported coal is currently active. Among the pick of the lot, NTPC has invited bids from suppliers to procure a total of 5.75 mnt of coal for its different plant locations on FOR basis.
Separately, the company’s joint venture NTPC SAIL Power Corporation (NSPCL) has sought 0.17 mnt of imported coal at its Bhilai plant. Also, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has planned to procure 1.24 mnt for its power plants.
Quantity in mn t
As a part of its procurement process, NTPC has been floating tenders for coal purchases which were issued in batches.
Earlier, the company had sought bids for 1.25 mnt on CIF basis, delivered at Dhamra/Vizag ports. The tender was closed yesterday.
Besides, its two subsidiaries, Nabinagar Power Generating and Bhartiya Rail Bijlee, had sought 500,000 t and 300,000 t, respectively, delivered to their power plants. These tenders were closed on 20 Jan’22.
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