Coal and Ash Handling Systems Delay Commissioning of Indian Thermal Power Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--India's Central Electricity Authority (New Delhi), the government's statutory organization for regulating the power sector, has set up a power project monitoring panel to review the progress of new thermal power projects coming up as part of India's Eleventh Five-Year Plan. The panel has reported that the delay in setting up coal and ash handling systems is holding up the commissioning of coal-fired power projects.

Projects that were delayed include NTPC Limited's (BSE:532555) Kahalgaon, Sipat-II and Bhilai thermal power plants and Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company's Amarkantak thermal power project. NTPC, India's largest power-producing company, has said that Phase II of an ultra-mega power project coming up in Kahalgaon, Bihar, was delayed because of the shortage of manpower in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) (BSE:500103) (New Delhi), India's largest equipment manufacturer and engineering company in the power sector. The plant is estimated to have a capacity of 2,340 MW to be developed in two stages: Phase I with four 210-MW units and Phase II with three 500-MW units. The actual date for commissioning the plant was March 2007. NTPC commissioned the second 500-MW unit of Phase II in November and indicated that the third 500-MW unit was being prepared for boiler light-up activities.

The 1,000-MW Sipat STPP-II project in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, with a total capacity was delayed because of the lack of manpower. Brothers Engineering and Erectors Limited (Raichur, Karnataka), which was responsible for erecting the mills, was unable to deliver the coal-milling system, bunkers and feeders on time. Stage 2 of the project comprises units 4 and 5 of 500 MW each, which were to be in operation by September 2007 and March 2009, respectively. While Unit 4 has been commissioned in August, Unit 5 is likely to be operational by the end of this month. NTPC is still at loggerheads with Technoprom Exports (Moscow, Russia) over the delayed supply of boilers and the Russian firm's upward revision of equipment price for the 1,980 MW Sipat-I project that is running two years behind schedule.

The 500-MW Bhilai thermal power project faced delays since the firm could not set up the makeup water system on time. The plant's 250-MW Unit 1 was commissioned in April, and the firm is planning to commission the second unit by the end of the current fiscal year.

NTPC's Amarkantak thermal power plant is designed to generate 210 MW of electricity. The plant was scheduled to come into operation in May 2007, but BHEL delayed setting up the coal handling plant, leading to project slippage by more than 18 months. The 210-MW unit was synchronized on oil in June and is likely to be commissioned by this month.

BHEL has been the cause for delay of many new thermal power projects. It has been facing a challenge in executing orders and has cited procuring equipment as one of the main reasons for the delays. The engineering major sources ancillary power equipment from sub contractors but is currently experiencing a shortage of qualified vendors.

India has set a target of adding 92,000 MW of power generation capacity as part of its Eleventh Five-Year Plan. Of this, 61,282 MW has already been commissioned and the remaining projects are either yet to be awarded or under construction. PPMP will prepare a detailed vendor-wise report and status reports for all the projects. A report on coal and ash handling systems will also be submitted by the committee. Setting up new facilities or enhancing the capacities of existing ones to manufacture ancillary power equipment and encouraging vendors to increase their manpower have been identified as two areas of improvement in order to meet the current power generation target. Despite delays, the government is optimistic of meeting the new power generation capacity target.

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