Nearly 60 thermal plants granted coal linked under India’s SHAKTI Scheme

Coal linkage has been earmarked for a capacity of 4,500 MW.

A total of 58 thermal power plants were granted coal linkage for a total capacity of 63,670 megawatts (MW) under the provisions of Para B (i) of the Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India (SHAKTI), according to the Ministry of Coal.

Aside from the granting of coal linkage, this measure has also made way for the signing of Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) to Letter of Assurance (LoA) holders with a total capacity of 8,780 MW under the provisions of Para A(i) of the policy.

The ministry said a total six rounds of auction have been held in which the total booked quantity of coal linkage is 38.90 million tonne per annum (MTPA) under SHAKTI B (ii). Six rounds of auction were also conducted and about 40.27 MTPA of coal linkage were booked under SHAKTI Para B (iii).

Under SHAKTI Para B (iv), coal linkages have been earmarked to the States of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala for a capacity of 4,000 MW, 5,600 MW, 6,740 MW, 3,299 MW, 1,600 MW, 2,000 MW, 4,100 MW, 500 MW and 500 MW, respectively.

A capacity of 4,500 MW was also earmarked under Para B (v) of the SHAKTI Policy, the coal ministry said.

Twenty tranches of linkage auctions have been conducted by Coal India Limited under Para B (viii) (a) of SHAKTI Policy and about 76.30 million tonnes of coal were booked by the winning bidders.