MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL, POWER AND NEW AND RENEWABLE ENERGY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL )
(a)& (b): As per information furnished by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), imported coal is being blended with domestic coal (in some power plants) to bridge the shortfall in domestic availability of coal. Coal is blended upto 15% subject to feasibility of technical parameters of boiler design etc. Coal imported for blending during the last three years and current year is given below:
2011- 2012- 2013- 2014-
12 13 14 15
(Mte) Asse Ach. Asse Ach. Asse Ach. Asse Ach.#
ssed ssed ssed ssed
Import of coal 35.0 27.5 46.0 31.08 50.0 37.8 54.0 11.7
by plants based
on domestic coal
( blended)
Note ( #) April -June 2014
The reasons indicated for import is lesser coal than quantity assessed for the year include:
(i) high cost of imported coal, in general
(ii) power utilities’ reluctance to import more coal especially, those plants which are far off from ports; and
(iii) electricity generated on imported coal not getting scheduled in merit order operation, and as a result, it leading to sub-optimal utilization of plant capacity. Technical limitation of Boiler design etc. has also been cited as a factor that limits the use of imported coal.
(c)&(d): As per the current import policy, coal is already under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty. |
