Coal India arm NCL says ensuring sufficient fuel supply to meet growing energy demand

Coal India arm NCL on Tuesday said it is ensuring sufficient fuel supply to meet the growing energy demand of the nation and reaffirmed its commitment for uninterrupted fuel dispatch to its dependent coal consumers, including thermal power plants.

The assurance assumes significance as at present the country's power plants are grappling with coal shortages.

"Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) is ensuring sufficient coal supply to meet the growing energy demand of the nation. Notwithstanding the tough times of COVID and heavy monsoon, NCL registered 15 per cent Y-O-Y growth and dispatched 61.51 million tonnes (MT) coal till date in the current fiscal, compared to 53.44 MT of the same period last year," the company said in a statement.

In the first half of 2021-22, NCL has supplied 113 per cent of the contracted quantity of coal to its pit-head power plant. Also, 102 per cent of the contracted quantity of coal has been supplied to power utilities, including upcountry thermal power plants (TPPs) in the same period.

Ramping up the dispatch, NCL also broke the record of 'highest ever dispatch' in a day in the month of August and September, two times when the company dispatched its highest ever coal to the consumers (majority to power sector), 3.87 lakh tonnes on August 27, 2021 and 4 lakh tonnes on september 6, respectively.

In the ongoing month, NCL is dispatching about 3.6 lakhs tonnes every day to its coal consumers.

NCL Chairman and Managing Director P K Sinha has reaffirmed his commitment for uninterrupted coal supply to its dependent coal consumers including thermal power plants.

NCL has also been entrusted with a 15 per cent higher annual coal dispatch target of 126.5 MT in current fiscal than actual coal dispatch 108.66 MT of 2020-21.

With meeting the TPPs requirement, NCL is also contributing in making the nation 'Aatmanirbhar' in the coal sector and has supplied 1.06 MT till Q2 this year as import substitution.

NCL has been continuously achieving its annual coal production target for the last six years since 2015-16 and meeting the demand of coal requirement of the nation.

In FY'22, NCL is targeting 119 million tonnes (MT) and has produced 57.21 MT till date.

NCL's production stood at 115.04 MT in FY 2020-21.