Punjab’s Talwandi Sabo plant to get high-grade coal from CIL

The 1,980 mega-watt (MW) Talwandi Sabo power plant is expecting high-quality low-ash coal supply from Coal India (CIL) in the coming weeks. The power plant, owned by Vedanta, had attributed restrictions on coal import imposed by the Centre as one of the major reasons for the frequent breakdown of its units, as it increased the dependence on domestic coal which has high ash content.

Under fuel supply agreement with CIL, the generating station has been lifting coal from Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL) since FY15. “The plant has been allocated higher grades of coal from Eastern Coalfields (ECL) under import substitution,” CIL told FE. The fuel from MCL are of lower grades with calorific value between 3,400 – 4,000 kilo calorie per kilogram (kcal/kg), while coal from ECL mines mostly have higher calorific value between 6,100 – 6,700 kcal/kg.