New Delhi, May 29 (Agency) Power Ministry has directed Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to determine the eligible quantity of domestic coal for the power plants using coal under the auction window Shakti B(viii) (a) taking into account 10% imported coal for blending. Shakti B (viii) (a) is the window for power plants having untied capacity to bid for coal, to generate power using this coal and sell it in the exchange under Day Ahead Market (DAM) or the DEEP portal for short term power purchase agreement (PPA).
“For such plants, the Ministry has directed CEA to compute the quantity of coal consumed (procured under SHAKTI B (viii) (a) window) on the basis of mandatory blending of 10% coal by weight for generation during the period starting from 15th June 2022 upto 31st March 2023. This will give a window of about 3 weeks for these plants to procure imported coal,” Power Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Considering the increased demand of electricity and coal supplies from domestic coal companies not matching with the consumption of coal, Power Ministry had advised all gencos (power generating companies) including private power producers on April 28, 2022 to blend 10% of imported coal for power generation.