Coal news and updates

Coal crunch forces NTPC-Simhadri to close one unit

The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has shut down unit 4 of its thermal power station at Simhadri due to coal shortage. In a release, NTPC, Simhadri said, "The station had to shut down unit 4 on Tuesday and the remaining units are being operated at technical minimal load. At present, the station is generating about 1050MW with the available coal stock and anticipated receipts. The generation is being regulated depending on the time of coal receipt."

According to NTPC-Simhadri, poor coal receipt throughout the month of October had impacted the functioning of the plant, with damages to the railway tracks in Odisha due to Cyclone Phailin causing further disruptions. Prior to the shutdown of unit 4, all the units were running at technically minimum level of 350MW as against the installed capacity of 500MW, the release said. With the tracks expected to be repaired by Wednesday, power generation would be regulated depending on further availability of coal.

During September, the station received about 7.39 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of coal as against requirement of around 10.5 lakh MT. NTPC-Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station has an installed capacity of 2000MW (4 X 500MW) and is capable of generating 48 million units in a single day. The coal required for this generation level is about 35000 MT (28000MT of Indian coal and 7000MT imported coal) amounting to 10 rakes of coal per day.

Source: The Times of India