In the presence of top officials of Ministries of Coal, Railways, and Power in New Delhi today, the meeting carried out the review of power supply requirement during the ongoing summer and forthcoming winter season.
New Delhi: Power and renewable energy minister R K Singh and coal and railway minister Piyush Goyal today chaired a meeting for review of coal stock position at thermal power stations. Officials from the power, coal and railway ministries analyzed the targets for coal production and dispatches by coal companies during the meeting.
“In the presence of top officials of Ministries of Coal, Railways, and Power in New Delhi today, the meeting carried out the review of power supply requirement during the ongoing summer and forthcoming winter season. The various short term, medium term, and long-term measures were discussed in detail to improve the coal stock position in power plants of the country,” the railway ministry said in an official statement.
During the meeting, Goyal stressed on the necessity to increase Plant Load Factor (PLF) of various power plants of the country. He said that all pithead plants with sufficient coal supply should run at 100 per cent PLF and a fortnightly meeting of the ministries involved should be held to review power situation in the country.
He also stressed on the need for states located far from mines to use provisions under “Flexibility of utilization of Coal” rules so that this coal can be used by power stations near the coal source. Gujarat and Maharashtra have already been using these provisions and this will enable cheaper power to the respective states and efficient utilization of rolling stock enabling coal supply for other power stations, the ministry said.
Goyal gave instructions to the officials to keep a close vigil on the power production and supply situation in the country coordinate with chief secretaries and power secretaries of the states for this purpose.
Goyal expressed the need to improve the turnaround time of rakes by better scheduling of trains and optimum utilization of traffic blocks.
He also emphasized on reducing terminal detention of wagons inside power plants and coal sidings to generate extra capacity.
Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes
