Yadadri’s Fifth 800 MW Unit Synchronised

Hyderabad: The 4,000 megawatt Yadadri Thermal Power Plant that has been saddled with a shortage of higher-grade coal for its supercritical units crossed an important milestone with the fifth of its 800 MW units getting synchronised on Tuesday.

With this, all five 800MW units of the Yadadri thermal plant are now officially functional, as the government takes steps towards solving the problem of securing coal supplies of the required quality for the plant.

The YTPS requires around 14 million tonnes of G9 grade coal, but a system to ensure its supply was not put in place during the BRS government’s tenure.

Though agreements were signed for supply of the required coal, they were mired in confusion, and were not implemented, the result was that YTPS never really got what it required in terms of coal, according to Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the power portfolio.

The first was an agreement TGGenco signed on April 20, 2016, with Singareni Collieries Company Limited for supply of 7 million tonnes of G9 coal, which SCCL was to import.

Another agreement was signed on December 9 of the same year with the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC), a public sector undertaking, for the rest of the 7 million tonnes of G9 coal, which MSTC was to import and supply to the power station.

In what appeared to be an attempt to tie up the loose ends, arrangements were also made with the Indian Railways to transport the imported coal from Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam ports.

This made it appear that everything was in place for YTPS, but none of these agreements worked, and the BRS government changed its coal supply plans with Genco signing a new agreement in 2022 with SCCL for supply of the entire 14 million tonnes of G9 coal required for the plant.

“But the problem was that Singareni did not have such reserves of G9 coal, and in 2022-23, all it was able to supply was around 1.71 million tonnes of this coal.

The reality was that the previous government completely failed to get even the basics right.

First, the plant was set up far away from coal sources.

Second, it was designed for using a high-grade coal which was not available.

Third, all attempts to get this coal were half-hearted,” Bhatti Vikramarka says.

“The BRS, which alleges that the Congress government has neglected power production at Yadadri, should first own up to its mistakes, and how its government undermined Yadadri’s potential.

Our government is making efforts to get G9 grade coal from domestic coal mines and we hope we can tie this up soon,” according to Bhatti Vikramarka.