The Union Government has turned down the request of the State Government to ensure smooth supply of coal for five years to the State-owned Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC)’s proposed 1,320-megawatt power plant coming up in the Ib Valley.
The State Government had approached the Ministry of Coal MoC for additional bridge linkage of 20.56 million tonne (MT) of coal supply from 2017-18 to 2021-22 as the OPGC plant is expected to be synchronised in 2017-18.
MoC Joint Secretary Rajesh Kumar Sinha has informed the State Government that five years of bridge linkage cannot be provided; however, the Standing linkage Committee (SlC) long Term (lT) has recommended for three years of additional bridge linkage.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Minister Energy Pranab Prakash Das, Chief Secretary AP Padhi and Energy Principal Secretary Rajesh Verma had urged the Government of India on the issue as the OPGC’s new power station would ensure the State’s “energy security”.
Verma as the OPGC Chairman had stated to the Union Coal Secretary about the requirement of the OPGC for a long-term coal linkage as the shortfall would continue for five long years before the allocated coal bock starts operations.
The yearly shortfall as projected by the OPGC is in 2017-18 the shortfall would be around 1.32 MT while in 2018-19 it would go up to 5.24 MT, and in 2019-20 it would be 6.5 MT, which would come down to 5 MT in 2020-21 and would further be reduced to 2.5 MT in 2021-22.
However, the MoC did not agree to such a projection and, accordingly, rejected the plea for a five-year additional bridge linkage.
Sinha has said the SlC (lT) has recommended for sanction of bridge linkage to the OPGC for a period of three years from the date of allocation of the coal block as per the Centre’s existing bridge linkage policy.
He said the norms for coal consumption in thermal power plants (TPPs) issued by the Ministry of Power are based on a plant load factor (PlF) of 85 per cent. The norms are based on a standard formulated by the MoP and are applicable for all the TPPs in the country, including generation companies like the NTPC.
However, the OPGC requirement projection is based on 90-per cent PlF. In fact, the OPGC plant now is running over 90-per cent PlF, said sources.