India's leading power producer, has invited expression of interest from foreign suppliers for inking a 10-15 year contract for 12 million tonnes coal that the company plans to import for its proposed 4,000 mw coal-fired plant at Pudimadaka near Anakapalle in Andhra Pradesh.
The company is looking to get the first consignment of coal from this contract by 2018, by when it hopes to commission the plant which has been delayed due to the protests over Centre's decision to grant statehood to Telangana. The proposed coastal power plant will run entirely on high quality imported coal.
Coal India had earlier tried to import coal on behalf of NTPCBSE -0.61 % through a similar long-term contract a few years ago but the deal did not work out because the suppliers asked for a premium on the price for supplying coal on an uninterrupted basis for such a long period. NTPC found the prices higher than what it was paying for importing coal and Coal India shelved the plan.
NTPC intends to import coal directly from mine owners, lease holders and suppliers that have experience in long-term supply. The supplier will be required to handle transportation of coal from mine to port, clearing and forwarding of the consignments, storage, coordination with port of country of origin and loading of coal consignment into vessels arranged by NTPC for shipping to India.
It is looking for premium quality coal with just about 20% ash and 5,300-5,800 kilo calories of energy content in each kilogram. Domestic coal, in contrast, has 40% ash content and less than 3,000 kilo calories of energy content per kg. Indian boilers are made to handle coal with 40% ash content. However, the proposed plant will be made to handle such high energy content.
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