NTPC has reported a significant drop in usage of imported coal during the third quarter (October to December) of FY21.
According to a performance report filed by NTPC on stock exchanges, the total imported coal used by NTPC during Q3 of FY21 was 0.259 million tonnes, which was nearly 60 per cent lower than the 0.646 million tonnes consumed in Q3 of FY20.
At the same time, overall coal consumption increased 1.6 per cent year-on-year during Q3 of FY21 to reach 45.558 million tonnes from 44.450 million tonnes in the same period of FY20. The share of imported coal in NTPC’s total consumption decreased to 0.6 per cent from 1.4 per cent, by the same comparison.
There was also a slight improvement in coal production from NTPC’s captive mines. From 2.534 million tonnes in Q3 of FY20, captive coal production inched up 1.3 per cent to reach 2.566 million tonnes in the third quarter of FY21. It may be recalled that NTPC suffered a big loss of coal production in September/October 2020 due to stoppage of mining activity at its Pakri-Barwadih coal block in Jharkhand, due to local agitation.
PLF down
The plant load factor (PLF) of coal-fired power plants of NTPC was 62.29 per cent in the first three quarters (April to December) of FY21 as against 67.13 per cent in the same period of FY20. However, in both the time periods, NTPC’s coal plants did better than the national average PLF of thermal power plants.
Over 6 GW added
NTPC Group added 6,529 mw (or 6.529 GW) of commercial power generation capacity during the April-December period of FY21. Of this addition, 3,185 mw came from NTPC Ltd (see table). The remaining 3,344 mw was inorganic, resulting from acquisitions of NEEPCO (1,757 mw) and THDC (1,587 mw).
NTPC Ltd: Capacity addition in FY21 (Apr-Dec) |
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| Location | Type | MW |
| Khargone, Madhya Pradesh | Coal | 1,320 |
| Lara, Chhattisgarh | Coal | 800 |
| Darlipalli, Odisha | Coal | 800 |
| Barauni, Bihar | Coal | 250 |
| Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh | Solar | 15 |
| Total | 3,185 | |
In NEEPCO, NTPC acquired 100 per cent equity that was earlier held by the Central government. In THDC, NTPC acquired the entire 75 per cent stake held by the Centre. The remaining 25 per cent is owned by the Uttar Pradesh government. Both the acquisitions were formalized in 2020.
(Commercial generation capacity refers to capacity that has gone into commercial generation. This may be lower than installed capacity; the difference is accounted for by capacity that is commissioned but not yet gone into commercial production.)
Generation up 1.6 pc
The commercial power generation of NTPC Group, including that from renewable energy-based plants, was up 1.6 per cent, reaching 192.825 billion kwh in the April-December period of FY21 from 189.825 billion kwh in the comparable period of FY21.
(Featured photograph shows NTPC’s Vindhyachal power plant in Madhya Pradesh)
