Power crisis: Did NTPC flout norms by keeping coal reserves low?

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has said that the coal crisis that threatened a power blackout in the country has been averted and things will get to normal in the next four to five days. It was blamed on blockade in Telangana, rains and a two-day strike in Coal India for the crisis. Amid severe coal shortages, the government today said developers of new power projects can depend on imported raw material to meet their fuel requirement.

The development comes at a time when acute coal shortages are disrupting power supplies in different parts of the country.

Emerging out of a inter-ministerial panel meeting to review status of infrastructure projects, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said, “we don’t have availability of coal for new projects”.

“If they (developers) can run power plants on imported coal, then banks can consider (funding) for new power projects,” Jaiswal said.

Without divulging details, the Minister said three upcoming power projects have been denied coal linkages.

Coal Ministry sources said that these projects pertained to Lanco Infratech, GMR and Jindal group. However, it was not immediately clear which Jindal group’s projects have been affected.

In an exclusive CNN-IBN story, the picture that emerges is that that Telangana and flooding were not the real reasons for the recent power crisis. It would appear that The Electricity Authority data shows that the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and other power utilities did not maintain adequate coal reserves.

Data shows NTPC kept coal reserves dangerously low at some plants. In October alone, as many as 22 power stations were declared ‘super critical’, that means coal just to last four days, while 36 power stations were ‘critical’ - that is coal for less than 15 days.

The demand-supply gap in coal is projected at 142 MT this fiscal with domestic output likely at 554 MT. The Planning Commission has warned that the deficit is likely to reach 200 MT by 2016-17.

In the first seven months of current year, decisions on more than 100 proposals for coal linkages from sectors, including power, were still pending with the Coal Ministry, as according to official data.

Of the 117 applications received in 2011 January-July period, the maximum requests were for captive power plants, followed by state electricity boards and independent power producers, sponge iron and cement plants.

For the complete CNN-IBN story watch video

With inputs from PTI