Even as bifurcation blues over allocation of staff, projects and other issues continue to haunt, the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation is facing an acute shortage of coal for its major thermal generating stations.
While three 210 MW units of the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant at Muddanur had to be shut down owing to shortage of fuel, coal shortage is also staring the 1,760 MW Dr. Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station. According to officials, the NTTPS currently has stocks of about 10,000 tonnes as against the daily requirement of 28,000 tonnes.
The NTPC in Visakhapatnam too is facing coal shortage on account of short supplies from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL). Of the three major plants, the RTPP has fuel supply agreement with the Singareni Collieries Company Limited while the NTPC Simhadri Plant has full coal linkage with the MCL which also caters in part to the NTTPS. Generation at the NTPC plant, according to sources, was hit by the ongoing agitation in the MCL which led to steep drop in the coal production.
Officials suspect foul play
In respect of the SCCL, the APGenco officials suspect “foul play’’ wherein the coal supplier was not ensuring supply of coal to the thermal power plants that help the utility meet the demand in Andhra Pradesh to a large extent. The SCCL, according to officials, had signed an agreement with the RTPP for supply of coal while it had no linkage with the NTTPS which had agreements with MCL and other sources.
APGenco Managing Director K. Vijayanand told The Hindu that there were logistical problems that caused the shortage. But these had been sorted out and the utility now had stocks needed for the next 10 days in its possession. “The situation as of now is comfortable. We have four lakh tonnes of imported coal and another 1.25 lakh tonnes of domestic fuel,” he said.
