NTPC's efforts narrow coal supply gap at Kahalgaon, Farakka stations

NTPC`s Kahalgaon and Farakka TPPs, which have traditionally suffered from poor performance owing to lack of adequate coal, put up a much better show during November 2010.While the availability of the Farakka plant stood at 99.04% over the month, the same figure for Kahalgaon was 86.24%.The two power stations require 25.8 million tonnes of coal each year. Against this, only 15 MTPA is available from CIL sources.

To mitigate the gap, NTPC has taken the following remedial measures:Bilateral arrangements with ECL-Raniganj and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL)) for supply of additional coal through Memorandum of Understanding;Procuring coal through E-auction

Import of coal.

While the Farakka station, with an overall availability of 84.27% over the April-November 2010 period, seems set to meet the target of 85% for full recovery of fixed charges, through tariff, for the fiscal, the Kahalgaon TPP, with 66% availability over the same time, is very unlikely to be able to recover its full charges.