India: Nalco faces shortage of coal

The National Aluminium Company (Nalco) plunged into an unprecedented coal shortage crisis threatening the collapse of its sensitive smelter plant here.
The crisis of coal is so serious that the authorities had to a shut down two 120 MW units of the seven units of captive power plant during the month. It has been importing 100 MW of power from Gridco a day since yesterday to meet its deficit power supply, according to officials. The present crisis is partly due to shortage of production at Bharatpur mines due to land-related problems and shortage of rail rakes.
Last month, both the NTPC Kaniha power plants and Nalco were in the grip of a severe coal shortage. The scarcity had drawn the attention of both the Central and state governments. While the position with regards to NTPC improved, Nalco showed signs of improvement for a few days last month before relapsing into the crisis mode as far as coal supply was concerned.
The smelter plant needs uninterrupted power supply round the clock.

Statesman