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State-owned NTPC Ltd is set to start mining from its captive Pakri Barwadih coal block in Jharkhand to produce power.
“We are waiting for last minute approvals. Then it will go onstream immediately,” a senior Government official told Business Line . The coal block could start production from this week.
Captive mining is a first for the country’s biggest power generator, which depends on Coal India Ltd, another state-run company, for fuel and has been meeting the gap in its requirement through imports.
NTPC has also been pushing others to use captive coal blocks, mainly because mine allocation issues have been obstructing the development of the sector.
Commencing operations at the Pakri Barwadih block will be a major breakthrough for the company, which has been facing law and order problems in the State.
The public sector producer has been allocated four blocks – Pakri Barwadih, Kerandari, Chhatti Bariatu and Chhatti Bariatu-II – in Jharkhand to feed its power stations.
“The estimated annual output from the Pakri Barwadih mine is 15 million tonnes. NTPC aims to achieve this in the next three years. In the first year of operations, it will produce about 3 million tonnes, followed by 8 million tonnes in the second year and 15 million tonnes from the third year,” added the official.
The coal from this captive mine will be utilised by NTPC to fire power stations in Barh (Bihar), Kudgi (Karnataka) and Vindhyachal (Madhya Pradesh).
In the first six months of 2013-14, NTPC imported 7.3 mt of coal, an increase of 68 per cent against the same period in the previous year. The deficit in domestic coal is likely to increase in the next two years but will come down by 2016-17, when more captive mines become operational.
At present, NTPC has 3 billion tonnes of coal in six mines. It had incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 1,536 crore until the first quarter of 2013-14 to develop these mines. NTPC aims to produce 33 mt from at least five mines during the 12th Plan. The peak production from these mines is envisaged at 53 mt.
Recently, the Government allocated another four blocks with 2 billion tonnes of reserves to NTPC. These are Banai (Chhattisgarh), Bhalmuda (Chhattisgarh), Chanrabila (Odisha) and Kudanali-Laburi (Odisha).
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