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Bihar, Jharkhand may face power outages with NTPC Kahalgaon facing coal issues
Bihar and Jharkhand are likely to face major power cuts soon, as their main power supplier is facing the possibility of a total shutdown in the next three days as it isn’t getting coal to run the plant since the Rajmahal mine accident.
The 2,100 MW Kahalgaon Thermal Power Plant of NTPC supplies the bulk of power to the two eastern states and its source of fuel is Coal India’s Rajmahal mine. Since the December 29 accident that killed several miners, it hasn’t received any coal and the stock is depleting steadily.
NTPC has already shut one of the plant’s 500 MW units. It is now running at 60 per cent capacity — 20 per cent less than on normal days.”Farakka and Kahalgaon power stations have been receiving around 45-50 tonnes of coal per day on normal days from Rajmahal. This has stopped since December 29,” a senior NTPC official said.
“If we do not receive any coal in the next three days, we would be forced to shut down all units of the station,” he warned. An official from Coal India said Rajmahal has stocks of around 8 lakh tonnes of coal.
“We have applied for a permission from the Director General of Mines to transport this coal to power stations. If the permission is received and we are able to transport the coal, it could ease the situation at both Farakka and Kahalgaon,” he said. Derek Carrier Authentic Jersey
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