Piyush Goyal not keen on revising coal production target
Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal is not keen on revising the coal production target of 1.5 billion tonnes by 2022 despite a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) draft report saying no new fossil fuel-based power plant is required until the said year.
The CEA draft report is based on the fact that some 70,000 MW of thermal power projects are already under various stages of construction or are in the process of adding to generation, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal told i.
Goyal was here on Tuesday for a review meeting of Coal India Ltd.
The government is aiming at one billion tonne coal production by Coal India and another 500 million tonne by the private sector by 2022.
Given the massive capacity addition plans in the renewable sector, CEA estimates there is no requirement for new coal plants between 2017 and 2022.
Asked whether the CEA report will bear an impact on coal demand projection, Goyal replied in the negative but added that it is a dynamic situation and "We cannot go back to an era of shortages."
Engineering major BHEL, despite 80 per cent of its revenues coming from the power sector, too is not worried and is now eyeing the replacement market in a big way.
Odisha hopes Rs 8,000 cr booster will revive Talcher Fert Plant
Closed since 2002, the Odisha government is hopeful on the revival of the Talcher Fertiliser Plant of the Fertiliser Corporation of India by 2020, officials said. "The defunct unit will be revived at an investment of Rs 8,000 crore. Four companies will pump this amount," Odisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi told reporters, after presiding over a coordination committee meeting attended by Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Fertiliser and Chemicals, over the revival of the Talcher Fertiliser Plant in the state. Padhi said that the Gas Authority of India Ltd ( GAIL ), Rashtriya Chemical and Fertiliser Ltd ( RCF ), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited would pump money for the revival of the plant. Padhi said that the plant would require 5 MMT of coal per annum and after it was commissioned, it would produce 1.2 MMT of fertiliser per annum. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), after a series of deliberation, had in 2014 decided to revive the Talcher Unit. The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) ordered the closure of Talcher unit in 2002 as it was making consistent losses. The previous UPA government in 2012 had made the revival plans. The fertiliser plant, after its revival, would create direct employment opportunities for 550 people and indirect job to 4,000 people, officials said, adding, the state government would provide land, water and road communication for the smooth functioning of the plant. The Chief Secretary also said the plant would procure coal from the MCL and power from the GRIDCO, instead of going for a captive mine and an independent power plant. A decision has been taken to revive five plants including the Talcher unit, said Union Fertiliser and Chemical joint secretary S K Lohani and work would begin after the tender process is finalised.
CIL to start 2nd phase of coal linkage auction this month
In a bid to ensure adequate availability, state-owned CILBSE 0.80 % will this month begin the second phase of auction of coal linkages for the non-regulated sector and is likely to put on offer 14.5 million tonnes of fuel.
"Tranche II of auction of coal linkages for sponge iron sub-sector under non-regulated sector...is scheduled to start from January 17 onwards," an official told PTI.
The auction of the second phase will be held in the month of January and February, the official said.
"In the non-regulated sector, the auction of coal linkages will be for sponge iron, cement, steel and others," the official said.
For the sponge iron sector, around 5 million tonnes of coal would be put on offer, the official added.
In the first round, Coal IndiaBSE 0.80 % (CIL) auctioned around 22 million tonnes of fuel linkages for the non-regulated sector, he said.
The government had earlier said allocation of coal linkages for non-regulated sector industries will be only through the auction route to ensure transparency.
Sectors included are cement, steel/sponge iron, aluminium, and others (excluding fertiliser, urea).
The framework attempts to make coal available in a fair manner to end-users.
Last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved allocation of coal linkages for non-regulated sector only through auction route.
Prior to Cabinet's approval, Standing Linkage Committee had been deciding on allocation of long-term and short-term linkages for the sectors, including power and steel.
New bid to fast-track key projects
Aiming to fast-track clearances to several big ticket and sensitive infrastructure projects, a high-level panel of secretaries has suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that there should be an integrated online single window system for clearing all such projects, a move which will ensure that such clearances are granted within a year’s time. Normally, any infrastructure project coming up in forest or coastal areas requires multi-level clearances like environmental, forest, from wild life boards, and even from maritime authorities. This takes any thing from two to three years, thus delaying projects in the bargain.
Delay in implementation of infrastructure projects has been a key concern for Mr Modi, who on a monthly basis conducts meetings with top bureaucrats of all Central ministries as well as chief secretaries of various states to sort out roadblocks being faced by major projects.
Sources privy to the development told this newspaper that if the proposal is okayed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), then it would be a shot-in-the-arm for several infrastructure projects, which have been hanging fire due to delay in clearances. The group of secretaries made a detailed presentation before the Prime Minister, underlining the importance of creating an integrated single window online system which will significantly reduce the time taken in giving clearances to key projects.
Delay in environmental clearances of hundreds of coal mines of Coal India Ltd (CIL) during 2009-10, had led to acute shortage of the fossil fuel to thermal power plants.
Later, the UPA dispensation had come up with a case to case basis criteria for giving environmental clearances to CIL projects, yet owing to multi-level clearances needed for infrastructure projects, these were still taking time. The NDA Government after assuming power in May 2014, had claimed that there was better coordination between coal, steel, mining and environment ministries regarding expediting clearances to CIL projects and supply of coal to power plants has substantially improved in the last couple of years.
Still, if the suggestion given by the panel of secretaries of setting up an integrated online single window clearance system comes through, then it would be a revolutionary step. Incidentally, the suggestion of increasing retirement age of doctors and also the one on preponing the presentation of Union Budget, had been made by a high level group of secretaries, which were later accepted by the Centre.
http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/050117/new-bid-to-fast-track-key-projects.html
NTPC concerned about depleting supply of coal
The NTPC management has started raising the alarm on the declining coal stock in its two units.
NTPC authorities from both Kahalgaon (Bihar) and Farakka based thermal power units have been in touch with the ECL authorities here and expressed their concern over the disruption of coal supply since the December 29 incident of sliding in one of its excavation sites in Lalmatia.
"NTPC officials of both Bhagalpur and Farakka based units are in touch and are apprehensive about the decreasing coal stock in the backdrop of disruption in production and transportation of coal from our Lamatia unit," HK Singh, general manager (Rajmahal area) said adding a team from both the units had arrived to take stock of the situation here.
The GM, however, did not give any deadline for resumption of the production in the mine area and said focus was mainly on the ongoing rescue operation."At this point of time our rescue operation is priority and it is unpredictable to say right now how long it will go," he added.
The NTPC units of Kahalgaon and Farakka are fed by Lalmatia ECL coalmine which respectively have consumption of 35-36 and 27-28 thousand tonnes with stocks being presently available to them.
"There were the available stock of 4.5 lakh tonnes with the NTPC Kahalgaon unit a week ago which would have decreased critically following disruption of supply since December 30," GM said.
China steps up efforts to cut coal capacity
China, the world’s largest coal consumer and producer, is not giving up on its long-term plans of reducing the share of coal in its overall energy mix and consequent smog and greenhouse gas emissions.
Cutbacks will be focused on smaller mines in north and east China, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.
Despite reversing in November some of the restrictions imposed to local coal miners in early 2016 due to a spike in prices for the commodity, Beijing announced late last week it will continue to cut the capacity of its coal mines by 800 million tonnes a year until 2020.
Unveiling the plan’s details, the country’s top economic planner said the goal is to eliminate “outdated” and inefficient coal capacity every year while adding 500m tonnes of “advanced” capacity. The cutbacks will be focused on smaller mines in the north-east, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
Main producers, mostly based on China’s western regions such as Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, are expected instead to boost supplies. As a result, the NDRC expects total coal output to increase to around 3.9 billion tonnes by 2020, compared to 3.75 billion tonnes in 2015. It also anticipates that the country will burn around 4.1 billion tonnes compared to 3.96 billion tonnes last year — quite a modest growth rate.
The fresh measures come on the heels of an International Energy Agency's (IEA) report that estimates China's coal use is likely to have peaked in 2013.
Coal generated 84% of all electricity in Asia’s richest economy in 2014, but the IEA's forecasts that figure will drop down to about 54% in 2040.
Beijing has also made public its intention of modernizing its coal-fired power plants by 2020 in an effort to cut “polluting” emissions by 60%. The government also aims to add over 20 million kilowatts of installed wind power and more than 15 million kilowatts of installed photovoltaic power by the end of the decade.
http://www.mining.com/china-steps-up-efforts-to-cut-coal-capacity/
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