The Power Ministry today directed the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA) to analyze the amount of coal consumed, that was obtained under the SHAKTI B policy mandating blending of 10 percent by weight for the power generation from June 15 to March 31, 2023.

According to the Power Ministry’s official statement, “This blended coal is equivalent to about 15 percent of the domestic coal in terms of energy. “Shakti B (viii) (a) is the window for power plants having untied capacity to bid for coal, to generate power using this coal, and sell it in the exchange under the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) or the Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price (DEEP) portal for short term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).”

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This determination of coal consumption during the said period will give a window of about three weeks for these plants to procure imported coal.

In view of the swelling demand for electricity and the failure of acceptable coal supply from domestic coal companies, Power Ministry advised all Gencos, including independent power producers (IPPs), on April 28 to blend 10 per cent of imported coal for power generation to supplement domestic coal supply.