Raipur | March 30, 2017:

The Board of Directors of NTPC Ltd has accorded investment approval for Talaipalli project in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh for mining 18 Million Tonnes of coal per annum at an appraised current estimated cost of Rs 3,004 crore.

The company is expected to commence coal production from Talaipalli block in Raigarh district by November 2019, official sources informed.

The company had also been granted bridge linkage for seeking coal supply from the Talaipalli block by the Union Coal Ministry.

The scheduled date of start of coal production from the coal block as per the Coal Mines Development and Production Agreement is financial year 2019-20.

Notably, the power to be generated by upcoming NTPC Ltd’s 1600 MW Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) at Lara in Raigarh district will be supplied to Chhattisgarh, Goa and Maharashtra States, officials stated. The project is most likely to go on stream by March 2017, officials stated.

The coal requirement for the proposed plant would be met from Talaipalli Coal Block of Mand in Raigarh Coalfields, they stated.

It may be recalled that NTPC’s upcoming Lara STPP in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh has acquired all necessary clearances from the Union Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change for the project, officials stated.

The Lara plant of NTPC would be utilising super critical technology for power generation.

The Union Ministry of Coal has also assured Coal India Ltd (CIL) for getting Mand-Raigarh railway line project expedited to facilitate growth in offtake of coal from mines under South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) in Chhattisgarh.

This was against the target of 123.89 million tonnes (MT) - a growth of 11.1 per cent.

Notably, SECL is targetting total coal production of 250 million tonnes (MT) from its underground and open cast mines by 2019-20, officials stated.

SECL recorded coal production (provisional) of 12.10 million tonnes (MT) against target of 11.70 MT as on February 2016, Coal India Ltd (CIL) informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in its filing.

Meanwhile, the total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during December 2015 was Rs 20,096 crore. The contribution of coal was the highest at Rs 9,132 crore (43 per cent), the Central Government has informed.

Notably, the Coal India Ltd (CIL) is targetting production of 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2020. Wagon availability will be a key factor for achieving this target by Coal India Ltd, officials stated.

By signing of the MoU, the Railways and Coal India Ltd will be entering into a strategic partnership which would ensure adequate wagon availability for meeting the transportation needs of coal produced by Coal India Ltd.

Notably, the Central Government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding each with the States of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation of coal, officials informed.

The Union Railway Budget 2016-17 had put Chhattisgarh on Centre’s high priority list among states for its ambitious dedicated freight corridor project implementation plans.

NTPC Group achieved highest ever cumulative gross generation of 263.95 BUs so far during the current year surpassing previous annual best of 263.42 BUs recorded in FY-16.

Generation of Group NTPC registered an annual growth of 4.71 per cent over last year, a company press release informed.

NTPC Pit head Coal stations, having capacity of 25840 MW, recorded day PLF of 95.71 per cent on 16-3-17 and cumulative monthly PLF of 91.4 per cent in the month of March-17 till date. 29 Units of NTPC coal plants have generated at a PLF of more than 100 per cent on 16-3-17.

NTPC stations have continued excellent performance in the current month with Vindhyachal station, India's largest power station having capacity of 4760 MW, achieving highest ever day generation of 114.254 MUs at PLF 100.01 per cent on March 8, 2017. Mouda station also recorded highest ever day Generation of 31.2 MUs on March 9, 2017 and Solar Generation of NTPC touched maximum generation of 2.353 MUs on March 12, 2017.

NTPC is the largest power utility in the country playing a major role in meeting the power needs of the country thus contributing to its economic and social development by contributing nearly 24 per cent of country’s generation. NTPC has a vision to be the World's Leading Power Company, Energizing India's Growth. Known for its efficient operations and consistent performance NTPC is the third largest power company in terms of coal based power generation capacity, 2nd in PLF, 3rd in machine availability and 7th in terms of electricity generation, among the top twenty coal based power generating companies globally.

NTPC has total installed capacity of 48,188 MW from its 19 coal based, 7 gas based, 10 solar PV, one Hydro and 9 Subsidiaries/Joint Venture power stations.Company has capacity of over 23,000 MW under implementation at 23 locations across the country including 4300 MW being undertaken by joint venture and subsidiary companies. NTPC’s First coal mine Pakri-Barwadih at Hazaribagh became operational in December 2016. First wind power project of NTPC- Rojmal Wind Energy Project 50 MW is being set up in the State of Gujarat.

NTPC recently inaugurated 100 kWp Floating Solar PV plant, the largest of its kind in India as on date, indigenously developed as a part of ‘Make In India’ initiative, at RGCCPP Kayamkulam, Kerala.

(Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/)