ANGUL: Faced with an unprecedented coal crisis, public sector aluminium major Nalco has decided to shut down 227 of its 960 production pots at its Smelter plant here.
Three units of the captive power plant (CPP), each of 120 MW capacity, have also been shut down and one more unit is likely to follow suit with the situation going worse by the day. The CPP has 10 units, of which eight are usually operational for power generation.
“As on date, 80 electrolytic pots in the Smelter plant have been stopped. Since the coal supply position is not improving, in order to secure the safety of pots, Nalco may be forced to further shut down up to 227 pots, depending upon the power generation in its CPP,” officials said.
The PSU entirely depends on Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for supply of coal to its CPP at Angul along with the steam and power plant at Damanjodi. The requirement of coal for its CPP at Angul is around 17,000 tonne per day.
However, presently, the CPP is receiving only around 8,000-9,000 tonne with a huge shortfall of 7,000-8,000 tonne coal per day. The buffer stock of coal has been exhausted due to the short supply in the last seven weeks.
As the supply of coal has not improved, Nalco has been drawing around 190 MW of power from the State grid to manage the deficit. The coal shortage has severely impacted aluminium production. Power purchased from the grid has inflicted heavy cost burden on the company as power production from CPP is significantly cheaper.
Meanwhile, with the situation turning grim, trade unions and associations have appealed to MCL, Coal India Ltd and the Union Coal Ministry to take urgent action to increase coal supply to Nalco. On the other hand, one trade union leader Nirmal Samal demanded a Vigilance probe into electrolytic pot shutdown. “How come Nalco authorities could not know of the impending coal crunch since the feeding Bharatpur coalmine was closed after the accident in July. There is a conspiracy behind such a crisis to pave the way for privatisation,” he said.