Amid coal crunch, NTPC targets 86% rise in output from own mines
NEW DELHI: Amid a crushing coal crunch, India’s largest electricity producer NTPC is looking at ramping up Black Diamond production by 86% to 26 million tonnes (mt) from its captive mines in the current financial year, even as the power ministry has raised the requirement of domestic coal for the sector by 10% to 742 millions tonnes.
The mining growth trajectory set by the country’s single-largest coal consumer is driven by a greater emphasis on captive miners in the power ministry’s fuel demand estimate. Captive miners have been given a target of producing 120 mt in the current financial year, which is 43% more than almost 84 mt of coal in 2021-22.
NTPC will now have to bear the cross of its ambitious coal production target, which will account for 21% of supplies earmarked from captive miners. The company consumed 225 mt of coal in 2021-22, produced 14 mt of the fuel from three mines it had put into operation in the last few years.
