Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has stepped up coal supply to APGenco from 15,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) to 30,000 MT and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) to improve supplies from 7,500 MT to 19,000 MT for thermal plants in Andhra Pradesh.

This move comes as Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao instructed SCCL to improve the supplies to APGenco thermal plants after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy sought more supplies. APGenco thermal plants have lately been hit by lower supplies.

As a result, the coal rake receipts from SCCL improved from 4 to 8 and supplies went up from 15000 to 30000 MT, said APGenco Managing Director B Sreedhar.

Sreedhar had also met with N Sridhar, CMD of SCCL and requested additional coal supplies to APGenco.

The AP Chief Minister had also written a letter to the Union Ministry of Coal on September 30 and appraised about the critical situation of APGenco thermal plants. Following this, officials of the Coal India Ltd (CIL) promised to improve the coal supplies and send 5 rakes per day from Mahanadi Coal Fields Ltd (MCL).

The Director (Thermal), Chief Engineer (Generation), Chief General Manager (APPDCL) met officials from Coal India Ltd in Kolkata on Octorber 1 to discuss the need to step up coal supplies.

To run these thermal power plants at 85 per cent plant load factor (PLF), around 70,000 MT of coal is required, but, the APGenco has been receiving 45000 MT of coal on an average from MCL and SCCL.

The supplies were impacted due to an accident in MCL’s Bharathpur mines in July, which resulted in a 15-day strike by the workers. It was also affected by a three-day strike in MCL mines and one day in SCCL.

The heavy monsoon rains in MCL and SCCL area also affected the coal loading and supplies to Genco thermal stations.

AP Minister for Energy, Forest and Environment Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and Energy Secretary Srikant Nagulapalli are constantly monitoring the situation and following up for additional supplies.

comment COMMENT NOW