<p>Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Association of Fly Ash Products Manufacturers (AFAPM) Vs Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change & Others dated 13/07/2023.</p>
In the absence of transport network and faster envt clearances, benefits will be limited After nearly 40 years of state ownership, the chorus of support for privatisation of coal mines is growing louder. With the economy ravenously short of coal to fire its power plants, and the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), which has a near monopoly in the sector, failing to meet the ever increasing demand from industry, the cause of privatisation is gathering strength.
Aims to maximise realisation to meet Rs 30,000-cr target FinMin to meet ministries this week To maximise realisations from stake sale in two companies in its disinvestment pipeline — Oil India Ltd (OIL) and NTPC — the government has planned to sort out some of the issues before launching offer for sale (OFS). The stake sale in the two companies is critical to meeting the government’s Rs 30,000-crore disinvestment target for the current financial year, as the government has managed to garner only about Rs 6,900 crore so far.
In an attempt to make power plants using imported coal viable, the government will recast its coal allocation policy to ensure that all such projects that have reached advanced levels of completion get up to 30% of their fuel requirements through indigenously produced coal. The move would benefit six power projects of Adani Power, JSW Steel, Coastal Energen, DCW and Ind Barath Power. The total capacity of these projects is about 4,650 MW and their combined coal requirement is roughly six million tonne.
This would boost NTPC's valuation ahead of its Rs 12,000 cr disinvestment this fiscal The Power Ministry is in constant touch with Coal Ministry to speed up the re-allocation of three mines to NTPC, which would boost the power producer's valuation ahead of its Rs 12,000 crore disinvestment this fiscal. The government has decided to re-allocate three coal blocks -- Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South) -- to NTPC but all the necessary clearances are not in place.
The world's largest coal-based power plant is struggling to survive at the back of pricing problems On Monday, a high-level inter-ministerial panel will take a call on fuel supply for Adani Power’s Rs 25,000-crore imported coal-based power plant at Mundra in Gujarat. The infrastructure and mining major had asked the government to review an earlier decision to cut off domestic coal supply for the flagship 4,620 megawatt (Mw) project. The world’s largest coal-based power plant is already struggling to survive at the back of pricing problems.
The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has allowed power companies to club or divert the allocated gas between two or more power plants of the same company so as to improve the plant load factor and increase power generation. Following a significant drop in the plant load factor due to acute shortage of gas, the power companies had asked the government to relax the gas allocation policy.
The steel ministry has said that there is no need to give any discount on the intrinsic value of coal blocks to steel companies to be auctioned through the impending competitive bidding process. The ministry’s move is in sharp contrast to the power ministry’s demand that the reserve price of coal blocks — to be offered through the bidding route — be set at 90 per cent discount on the intrinsic value of the mine.
The coal ministry today said 35 power firms have so far entered into fuel supply agreements (FSAs)with Coal India Limited (CIL), amid the government stating that most issues relating to such pacts have been resolved. The statement follows the government announcing last month that power companies are likely to ink fuel supply pacts with CIL in a month's time. "CIL after resolving the pending issues with power utilities have already signed 35 FSAs out of 114," the coal ministry said in a statement. The ministry also expressed hopes that the remaining 79 fuel supply pacts would be signed shortly. "The balance (FSAs) are expected to be completed shortly," the statement said.
Amid fuel supply issues, the Power Ministry has suggested that if power companies are penalised for delays in commercial operation of its units, the same should also apply for Coal India (CIL) for not
Take less than 2 mt of the 30 mt offered by CIL Even as power companies have been complaining about a severe fuel shortage, they have failed to lift the extra coal offered to them by Coal India Ltd (CIL) from its stocks as emergency relief on the government’s instruction. Experts say the companies could be using the inflated perception of coal shortage to create grounds for price pooling, to source imported coal at cheaper rates.
