Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 9: To secure coal supply for state-owned Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC), the state government has urged the Centre to provide coal linkage from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) to the PSU for its upcoming power project. According to official sources, Chief Secretary AP Padhi has recently written a letter to the Union coal secretary Anil Swarup urging him to consider granting of tapering coal linkage from Lakhanpur coal mines of MCL to OPGC.
OPGC requires 16 million tonne (MT) of coal per annum for its brown-field power project for which construction is going on since July 2013. Now, the OPGC is going ahead with its expansion plan that will add two 660 MW super critical units to its existing thermal power station. It has already invested Rs 2,700 crore and the project is likely to be commissioned in 2017-18. Padhi has said that OPGC, a state run PSU, is operating 420 MW thermal power plant at Banharpali in IB Valley of Jharsuguda district. In OPGC, the state government controls 51 per cent of stake, while AES holds the rest.
Though OPGC had been allocated Manoharpur and dip-side Manoharpur coal blocks in 2007 for its expansion programme by Centre, both these blocks were under ‘No-Go’ category for almost three years under the environmental norms. Subsequently these blocks were de-allocated by the Supreme Court in 2014.
However, Orissa Coal and Power Limited (OCPL), which is a joint venture between OPGC and OHPC, has been allocated Manoharpur and dip-side Manoharpur coal blocks last year for supply of coal to OPGC’s upcoming plant. As the development work of these coal blocks were stuck for almost five years, coal mining from these mines are likely to be delayed. As per officials, this delay will hurt availability of coal to OPGC’s new facility. Against this backdrop, OPGC needs tapering coal linkage of 16 MT per annum for four years starting from 2017-18 to feed its additional capacity. Sources also said as MCL is facing issues in storing and evacuating coal from its mines, tapering coal linkage would help evacuate coal and enable MCL to ramp up output to the desired level.
