FCC

Tangedco to get coal for Mettur plant

2023-04-21

In order to purchase coal, the Singareni mines in Telangana and the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement, which was signed on Monday, is effective through March 31, 2024.

According to a senior Tangedco executive, the company now buys coal for its thermal power plants from the Singareni mines in Telangana and the Talcher IB valley mines of the Mahanadi Coalfields in Odisha. At 85% plant load factor, the annual coal need for the 4,320 MW total capacity thermal power stations is 223.4 lakh tonnes per annum (LTPA).

This totals 235.63 LTPA each year, with 195.63 LTPA coming from Mahanadi Coalfields via a fuel supply agreement and 40 LTPA coming from Singareni via a memorandum of understanding. In March of last year, the old agreement with Singareni came to an end.

Another source claimed that although coal costs Rs 3,500 per tonne in IB valley mines, it costs Rs 4,000 per tonne in Singareni. Tangedco therefore received 14.03 LT from Singareni and 178.64 LT, or 91% of connectivity, from IB valley mines during 2022–2023. The overall receipt of 192.67 LT is noted as the largest coal mine receipt in the previous ten years.

The official added that Tangedco will exclusively use the new MoU to purchase coal from Singareni for the Mettur facility. The union government has also promised to provide Tamil Nadu access to more rakes in the future for the transportation of coal.