The Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh on Wednesday directed that the power plants should auction fly ash through a transparent bidding process.

In a review meeting held with the Chairperson of Central Electricity Authority, heads of NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation, the Minister said that an advisory has been issued for this purpose to reduce the electricity tariff and burden on the consumers.

More options

As per the advisory, the power plants shall provide the flyash to end users through a transparent bidding process only. If after bidding/auction some quantity of fly ash still remains unutilised, then, as one of the options, it could be considered to be given free of cost on first come, first served basis if the user agency is willing to bear transportation cost.

If ash still remains, thermal power plant shall bear the cost of transportation of fly ash free to eligible projects, an official release said.

The end users shall be obligated to source the fly ash from the nearest TPPs to reduce the cost of fly ash transportation. If the nearest TPP refuses to do so, the end user project shall approach Power Ministry for appropriate directions, it further added.

In addition, the fly ash will be offered to the end-users who offer the highest price for fly ash and seek minimum support for transportation cost on priority.

“The power plants may offer fly ash subject to their technical restrictions such as all precautions required for dyke stability and safety etc, and take efforts to increase utilisation,” it added.

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