NTPC, India's largest power producer, has decided against importing coal in the current quarter in view of adequate supplies from the state run miner Coal India.

This will lower generation costs and, therefore, tariffs for consumers because imported coal, which has higher energy content, is costlier than the domestic coal that is used in bulk in power plants. "We will not import any coal during the current quarter as all our coal stockyards are full," an NTPC official said.

The official, who did not wish to be identified, added that import requirements are reviewed every quarter and orders are placed to international suppliers depending on the supply potential from Coal India.

"NTPC intends to bring down its imports to zero in the next five years and if Coal India can supply bulk of our requirements we will definitely revise our import figures. Additional ly, NTPC's own coal mines are set to start production soon," he said.

A senior CIL official gave credit to NTPC for receiving as much coal as possible through its infrastructure, adding that railways played a key role in coal movement.

According to the official, Coal India has earmarked 78% of its planned production of 550 million tonnes, or 430 million tonnes, to be supplied to the power utility sector.

In 2014-15, Coal India's supplies to power utilities increased 8.6% compared to that in the previous year, he said, adding that dispatch of coal and coal products from the miner also increased to 384.18 million tonnes, up 30.35 million tonnes from that in the preceding year.

"The coal miner efforts are focused on reducing the imports to the extent possible by increasing coal supplies to the power sector," he said.

CIL helped NTPC boost its coal stock to 9.06 million tonnes as of March 2015, from just 1.6 million tonnes at the end of September last year. The healthy coal stock was due to enhanced coal supply from Coal India's subsidiaries to NTPC, especially in the second half of 2014-15.

"While acknowledging increased coal stock at its stations, NTPC was hopeful that CIL would maintain similar supply trend during 2015-16," the Coal India official said.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com