Amid apprehensions of a deficient monsoon hitting the power sector this year, the country’s largest power producer NTPC has said there is sufficient coal at its plants as of now.
“We have sufficient coal at every station as of now,” NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury told PTI.
If rains are poor and hydro power stations do not produce well, then thermal power plants can produce more, he said, adding that “annually we find...during this time (of monsoons) the difficulty arises”.
The Met department has revised downwards its projection of monsoon this year to “deficient” from “below normal”, sparking fears of drought in some areas as also a spike in demand.
On NTPC, Choudhury said it is on an accelerated growth path and expressed optimism that the company will easily surpass its Twelfth Plan target of around 12,000 MW.
“Today we are at 44,000 MW...this year we have an ambitious target. Almost 20,000 MW is under execution. We have already done 12,000 MW plus in the last three-and-a-half years...the Twelfth Plan target, which is 12,000 MW, we will easily surpass,” he said.
Talking about the power sector, he said the poor financial health of distribution companies (discoms) remains a concern.
“The issue which remains today is the health of discoms. If you don’t get buyers of electricity then there is no use of having enough coal. There is no use in having people geared up to running a plant at 90 per cent PLF,” he said.
The country’s largest power generating firm, NTPC, has set a target of adding 2,145 MW of capacity in the current financial year 2015-16.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard with the Centre. Under the MoU, NTPC will generate 246 billion units (BU) in 2015-16.
NTPC’s total installed capacity is 44,398 MW.