With land acquisition for large-sized infrastructure projects increasingly becoming difficult, the country's largest power producer, NTPC, has embarked on a novel expansion drive of creating additi

Coal India (CIL) has sought clarification from the government on whether the terms of the fuel supply agreement (FSA) it is signing with new power plants need to be modified again as the cabinet co

After a period of uncertainty, the decks have finally been cleared for companies mining for coal to earmark an amount equivalent to the royalty they pay to the government for the well-being of proj

The government is set to change the mining law to allow time-bound clearances for pending projects as it looks to improve the investment climate in the sector badly hit by delays and sluggish econo

There is finally some relief for 66,000-MW domestic coal-based generation projects awarded through the

tariff bidding route. The Cabinet is likely to approve amendments to the coal distribution policy, allowing power firms importing coal to meet shortfall in fuel
supply from Coal India to pass on additional fuel costs to consumers. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs ( CCEA) is expected to take up this matter for consideration in its meeting on Friday. The inter-ministerial panel on coal price pooling suggested amending the coal distribution policy on the advise of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Domestic gas prices may be fixed at $2 lower than the $8.8-per-unit price discovered by the Rangarajan commitee constituted to suggest changes in the production-sharing contract and future domestic gas-pricing mechanism.

Sources said the oil ministry agreed to the basic principle of gas pricing suggested by the panel, but wants it to be modified slighty to also take into account gas prices in countries such as Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Nigeria that account for a major portion of India's liquified natural gas imports.

Ministries of coal & power have sided with PSU power utilities

The much-touted plan to optimally distribute the higher cost of imported coal among power producers via a price-pooling mechanism with cheaper domestic coal may go haywire. While a host of large upcoming private power projects would have increased their viability under the proposed regime, two key administrative ministries — those of power and coal — have virtually sided with public-sector power utilities, who fear losing their current cost advantage if price-pooling is implemented.

After fertiliser, the power ministry has also opposed the recommendations made by the Rangarajan panel to increase domestic gas price from the current $4.2/mmbtu to $8.8/mmbtu, saying it will impact the power sector by about R46,360 crore annually.

The gas supplies to the sector have completely halted from the KG D6 block of Reliance Industries, which recently hit an all-time low of 15.5 mmscmd from a peak of 69.43 mmscmd in March 2010.

Accused of supplying sub-standard coal at high prices, the country’s largest coal producer, Coal India (CIL), is planning to make third-party inspection of coal samples mandatory for all future fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with the user industries in the power, steel and cement sectors.

Sources privy to the development told FE that the move would restrain companies from levelling accusations against the coal PSU as the tests on coal samples would be undertaken by an independent agency whose selection would be mutually decided by CIL and the user companies.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has strongly defended its position on the allegation of “abuse of dominance” levelled by Maharshtra State Power Generation Company (Mahagenco) and the Association of Power