Chennai

An official release said that Thangamani called on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy RK Singh in New Delhi on Thursday. 

“Total coal required for operating the existing thermal power plants of Tangedco with an installed capacity of 4,320 MW at 100 per cent plant load factor is 72,000 tonnes a day. Tangedco has signed a fuel supply agreement with the Coal India Ltd for a total quantity of 61,000 tonnes. But we received only 60 per cent of the agreed FSA quantity from April to June this year,” Thangamani said, adding that with the wind power generation was not up to the expected level, the Tangedco was forced to operate its thermal power plant to its fullest capacity.

“With the monsoon setting in the coal-producing states, we have to increase the storage of the coal to meet the increasing requirement. We also asked the Railway Ministry to allot 20 rakes to supply coal to the state,” he said. 

State Electricity Minister asked the Coal Ministry to allocate Mandhakini A and Utkal C coal blocks to Tangedco to meet its future coal requirement. “We also sought long term fuel supply agreement to supply 5.913 million tonnes of coal for its North Chennai stage III and Uppur thermal power plants and 9.214 million tonnes of coal for other ongoing thermal power plants,” he said.  

Thangamani urged Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi to allocate additional land in Chandrabila Coal Block and also to help get approval from the Ministry of Environment and Forest for exploration in the forest area within the block.

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