Coal India to allow TPPs to lift more coal above Annual Contracted Quantity

New Delhi: Focusing on increasing its volume sale of coal, Coal India Limited (CIL) has made amendments to Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) for allowing coal supplies to thermal power plants of the country, including independent power plants (IPPs), beyond the Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ). “With this, CIL has done away with the earlier provision which allowed coal supplies up to a maximum of 120 percent of ACQ to power plants and IPPs. Now, the simplification would benefit the power plants which prefer to lift higher quantities of coal beyond their stipulated ACQ. The fillip for CIL is that it would boost its supplies at a time when coal demand is showing signs of slackening,” said Coal India in a statement on Tuesday.

PSU Watch is now on Whatsapp Channels. Click here to join

This applies to the gencos which have signed the fuel supply agreements embedded with such an enabling clause, added CIL.

Coal India Board allows coal supplies to power plants beyond ACQ

In the last week of June this year, CIL’s Board had cleared the decks for allowing supplies beyond ACQ. “This ushers in ease of doing business, simplicity and avoids duplicity of work,” said Coal India. CIL’s pitheads currently have a coal stock of 72 million tonnes (MTs), which is 47 percent more compared to 49 MTs as on August 12, 2023, said CIL.

Satisfying the coal demand, supplies to coal-fired plants peaked to an unprecedented 619.7 MTs in FY24, meeting 101.6 percent of the demand projected. Compared to 586.6 MTs off-take to the power sector in FY23, the increase in volume terms was 31.9 MTs, which is a growth 5.4 percent.

Of a total of 153 domestic coal-based power plants of the country, CIL has long-term linkages with 127 plants of 592 MTs. The country has a total of 54 domestic coal-based IPPs and CIL has linkages with 50 of them for 155.7 MT/per annum. During FY24, the generation through domestic coal-based power plants was 1,177 Billion Units (BU). Of this, tentatively 78 percent of the generation was fuelled by coal from CIL.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)