Power generation shutdown looms at NTPC Kahalgaon plants

The NTPC may shutdown all its seven thermal power generation units at Kahalgaon in Bihar's Bhagalpur district in a day or two if the coal supply did not resume, official sources said today.
"We have shut down power generation from three units due to coal shortage and there is fuel reserve for only two days to continue generation at the remaining four units," the sources at the NTPC Kahalgaon plant said.
The power generation at the four out of seven units have declined to between 650 to 700 MW as the Plant Load Factor (PLF) will increase further if the coal supply failed to resume at the earliest, they said.

The NTPC thermal power plant at Kahalgaon needs 45,000 metric tonne coal per day for optimal generation of power at 2340 MW, but due to non-supply of coal by the Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), the generation has steadily decreased to make the power situation grim in Bihar, the sources said.
The ECL has stopped coal supply to the NTPC thermal power plants at Kahalgaon and Farakka and threatened to do so at its Talcher plant to protest the NTPC's decision to verify quality and quantity of the natural fuel being supplied by the former at the thermal plants before making payment, they added.