ANGUL: The 1200-MW Nalco Captive Power Plant (CPP), which supplies uninterrupted power to its smelter unit, has plunged into coal crisis due to short supply from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) mines.While it has shut down one 120 MW unit in CPP, the Navratna is forced to import 120 MW of power from the State grid to maintain power supply to its smelter plant.
A top Nalco official said as the power plant situated near Talcher coalfield has been getting short supply of coal for more than one month, its stock has come down to one lakh tonne. If the situation does not improve immediately, Nalco will be forced to regulate aluminium production and may stop pots in the smelter. “As against the daily requirement of 17,000 to 18,000 tonne of coal to run eight 120 MM units, we have been receiving a daily average of 12,000 to 13,000 tonne of coal for more than a month. Now there is stock of one lakh tonne just to meet requirement of five days only. Now, we get 6,000 to 7,000 tonne of coal from our linked Bharatpur coal mine. MCL authorities, though, assured us to provide coal from other mines like Jagannath and Balaram, it did not happen,” said the official.
Nalco sources said as per the linkage, MCL was to provide 47.16 lakh tonne of coal by now, but it has supplied less 2.6 lakh tonne than the linkage.MCL authorities, on the other hand, admitted to the short supply of coal to Nalco power plant. They blamed it on low production in its feeding coal mine Bharatpur due to lack of land to mine as Nakeipasi villagers have not ceded their land.
“As against the normal production of more than 70,000 tonne of coal per day from the mine, it is producing only 4,000 tonne per day nowadays due to land issue. So there is virtually no coal in the mine to supply to Nalco,” a top MCL official said.However, the official assured that within three to four days, the problem will be resolved as it will get supply from other mines in Talcher.