The All India Power Engineers' Federation (AIPEF) on Wednesday questioned the power ministry's suggestion to thermal power plants to import coal for meeting the supply shortage amid troubles faced in moving domestic coal to the generating units.
The federation, which has members from power generation, distribution and transmission utilities, also asked the power ministry to clarify how coal would be transported from ports to thermal plants amid a shortage of railway rakes for moving the domestic coal.
"All India Power Engineers Federation has raised serious questions after the Union Power Ministry once again issued instructions to the state government power generating houses and private sector powerhouses to import coal to increase the supply of coal in times of coal crisis," an AIPEF statement said.
The federation questioned that if importing coal is the solution to the problem, then why the big power plants of private houses that run on imported coal are closed in today's power crisis.
The federation said that till adequate arrangements are made to transport domestic coal to power stations, it should be clarified by the Ministry of Power how imported coal will reach thermal power stations from the ports.
AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey said in the statement that in a letter issued by the Union Power Ministry on April 28, state thermal plants have been asked to import around 22 million tonnes of coal while private sector power stations have been advised to buy around 16 million tonnes from overseas markets.
He claimed that while the Union Power Ministry is pressurizing the state government thermal power plants to import coal, no instructions have been given in the letter to Adani's 4,600 MW thermal power plant at Mundra, Tata's 4,000 MW Thermal Power Station at Mundra in Gujarat and Adani's 1200 MW thermal power plant at Udipi in Karnataka which runs on imported coal.
The names of these power stations are also not mentioned in the letter of the Ministry of Power, whereas these power stations are on the sea coast and it is easy for them to get imported coal, it stated.
These power stations are closed after the price of imported coal has increased in the international market, it stated.
"Adani has an agreement with Haryana to provide 1424 MW of electricity for 25 years, but Adani has stopped giving electricity to Haryana from August last year," the AIPEF claimed.
He mentioned that Coal India is saying that it has produced 15.6 per cent more than last year and this produced coal is not reaching thermal power stations due to a lack of railway rakes.
Passenger trains are being canceled across the country, yet coal is not reaching. In such a situation, even if coal is imported, how the dry fuel can be moved from the ports to thermal power plants in the absence of railway rakes, he added.
According to the order issued by the Union Ministry of Power, all thermal power stations have to issue purchase orders for imported coal by 31 May 2022 and 50 per cent delivery by 30 June 2022, 40 per cent by 31 August 2022, and the remaining 10 per cent. Delivery is to be ensured by 31 October 2022, it informed.
"From this it appears that the coal crisis is very serious and it is yet to go on for several months", it stated.
Anpara Thermal Power Station of Uttar Pradesh State Power Generation has been given a target of importing 8,53,000 tonnes and Obra, Harduaganj and Parichha Thermal Power Stations to import 12,86,000 tonnes of coal, it stated.
All India Power Engineers Federation claims to have about 1 lakh engineer members working in state power utilities (Genco, Transco & Discoms) and power engineers of Central Electricity Authority, Damodar Valley Corporation, and Bhakra Byas Management Board.
