Power Ministry revises SHAKTI coal auction to improve Coal supply

Move aimed at making more coal available to power plants that do not have PPA; ministry plans three separate windows for auction

In order to make more coal available to power plants that do not have any power purchase agreement (PPA), the union power ministry agreed to changes in the guidelines for SHAKTI scheme.

SHAKTI, or Scheme for Harnessing Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India, was launched in 2018 to provide coal to stressed power units which lack coal supply.

The power ministry in a meeting with Association of Power Producers (APP), the representative body for private gencos, agreed to three separate windows for auction--3 months, 6 months and one year.  

"In order to make coal available for a