Coal shortage hits Genco unit

However, the first unit was shut down about 10 days ago due to shortage of coal and the second unit was also put off for the same reason on Monday night. According to sources in Genco, coal allotment will be made only after the start of commercial operations and the procedure will take more than a month. In case of the first unit, 2.4 million tonnes of coal per annum was earmarked from Mahanadi Coal Fields Ltd last year, but the total quantity could not be supplied for various reasons. Moreover, the same coal has been used for trails of second unit during last three months.

In addition to these problems, non-availability of imported coal and some hiccups in importing the coal has forced Genco to use large volumes of domestic coal. The domestic coal and imported coal are blended in 70:30 ratio to achieve optimum generation (800 MW in this case). The coal allocation is also based on this ratio. Non-availability of imported coal led to heavy consumption of domestic coal.

According to information, the 800 MW unit requires nearly 10,000 tonnes of coal per day without blending imported coal. Even after using such a high volume of coal, the generation will be around 600 MW whereas 8,500 tonnes is sufficient if blended with imported coal. Genco attempts to obtain coal from different sources to overcome the problem has failed to yield results either due to lack of interest in filing tenders by suppliers or the high rate they quoted.

Chief engineer of Genco unit Satyanarayana said that Genco is floati-ng tenders once again for coal and expressed confidence in overcoming the problem. He said generation in the first 800 MW unit is being commenced from Tuesday evening. As on date, 15,000 MT of coal is available in the plant and a ship carrying 55,000 MT is expected to reach Krishnapatnam port within next two days, it is learnt.