Private power companies object to NTPC's sale of power in Bangladesh

Private power generating companies have objected to the sale of power by NTPC to Bangladesh, arguing that domestic coal supply via long-term agreements cannot be used to supply power to other countries.

In a letter to the secretary, Ministry of Power, the Association of Power Producers (APP), the representative body of private power companies, has said bids called by the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) specifically asked if the power supplied from India had the government’s consent to use domestic coal.

“The access to linkage coal (at notified price), supplied under FSAs/coal supply agreements, and from captive coal mines, can only be utilised for long-term/ medium-term PPAs with discoms. This means that any bidder securing the BPDB bid based on domestic linkage coal/captive coal would lock in part of domestic coal resources for external consumption for 13 years, thereby hampering domestic consumer interests, and would be violative of the extant policy framework,” said the letter.

The BPDB called bids for supplying 300 Mw power from India.

NTPC, state-owned and largest thermal power producer, won the bid, beating three players, namely Adani Power, Semcorp, and PTC. NTPC would supply power through its power trading arm NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN).

The letter has urged the power ministry to clarify that the coal supplied under domestic linkage or coal from captive mines given for power sector cannot be utilised for BPDB’s long-term tender.

“Cross-border supply of power should be from e-auction/ imported coal only. An undertaking from bidders may be made part of the bid, saying that they will not use domestic linkage/ captive coal for such cross-border supply of power,” it said.

This comes at a time when private players have complained that coal supply to them is significantly lower than what goes to NTPC.

Also, they have reported slow coal supply under new scheme SHAKTI, which aims at new methodology for supplying coal at optimal cost.

NTPC Limited