Coal India signs fuel supply pactswith NTPC CIL has agreed to supply 60 million tonne of coal annually to NTPC’s new units Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Wednesday signed long-term contracts for supplying coal to most of NTPC Ltd’s new power plants, capping months of dispute after the state-owned miner agreed to evaluation of coal quality by independent agencies at all its mines starting October. The heads of the two public sector companies announced in Kolkata on Wednesday that they had signed the fuel supply agreements to supply coal to all of NTPC’s 17 new power plants. They also agreed to sign similar contracts for 11 power plants being built by NTPC in joint ventures with others. CIL has agreed to supply 60 million tonne (mt) of coal annually to NTPC’s new units, which have a combined generation capacity of 9,620megawatts (MW). That apart, CIL on Wednesday committed to supply 20 mt more to plants being built by NTPC in joint ventures. When commissioned, these would together produce 4,390MW. The agreement for one of NTPC’s joint venture units with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) in Bhilai could not be concluded immediately because there were still some issues to be resolved, CIL chairman S. Narsing Rao said. This unit will produce 500MW. The two companies have been sparring over coal quality, which came to a head in March-April after NTPC withheld payments. The miner retaliated by suspending supplies. It resumed supplies to NTPC after coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal intervened. Yet, long-term supply contracts couldn’t be signed because of various disagreements. The process of selecting independent agencies for the assessment of coal quality has already begun, and the new system of evaluation will be in place at all CIL mines from 1 October, Rao said. “There is no fight between CIL and NTPC and all of the issues have been cleared,” said Arup Roy Choudhury, chairman and managing director of NTPC. He said that CIL was fulfilling its commitment to supply at least 80% of the fuel needed by NTPC’s power plants. Yet, some of its generation capacity remained idle last year because of sluggish demand from power distribution companies owned by state governments, Roy Choudhury added.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 06:40:43 +0000
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