Coal Ministry may decide on FSAs for remaining units: Power Minister

New Delhi: The Power Ministry has suggested the Coal Ministry may take a decision on signing fuel supply agreements for the remaining 12 units with a capacity of 4,000 mw within a month. Both power and coal portfolios are under the same minister Piyush Goyal.

"MoC (Ministry of Coal) may take a decision for signing of FSA (Fuel Supply Agreements) for the remaining units of 4,000 mw capacity (out of the 78,000 mw) within one month, in accordance with the extant policy/regulations," a source close to the development said. The source further said that the Power Ministry stated that so far fuel supply agreements have been signed for about 74,000 mw capacity pertaining to 160 units out of the 78,305 mw (pertaining to 172 units) required to be signed as per Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs decision in June last year.

"The Power Ministry further said that in the case of remaining 12 units with a capacity of 4,000 mw, FSAs are yet to be signed," the source added. The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) had earlier stated that the timelines for signing of fuel supply pacts for power projects of 78,000 MW capacity should be met.

Two deadlines set for the signing of FSAs by Coal India Ltd with the power producers could not be adhered to. The government had set the deadline of August 31, 2013 for signing of the FSAs, which could not be met. The second deadline was set for September, last year.