Referencing Central Electricity Authority data, the Press Trust of India reported that one of the 30 plants was the National Thermal Power Corporation’s 1.84-megawatt Kahalgaon power station in Bihar.
A senior power official told the news service NTPC was trying to see how it could meet the coal shortage and was exploring its options.
Back in February Credit Suisse forecast India’s coal imports to rise by 9% this year.
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics analysts have also forecast India’s thermal coal imports to ramp up to 80 million tonnes in 2014 compared to an estimated 34Mt last year, on the back of government plans to build nine 4000MW power stations.
In March, Felix Resources managing director Brian Flannery told Bloomberg the company was looking into acquiring coal assets in India and Indonesia, and had been talking to large Indian groups associated with plans to build new power stations.
