Northern Coalfields Limited, New technology, Est. Date, Functioning, vision, dispatch. NTPC Power Plants : Vindhyachal, Rihand and Shaktinagar
NCL Introduction
NCL ( Northern Coalfields Limited ) a Miniratna Company, subsidiary of CIL ( Coal India Limited ) is located in Singrauli district largely. Singrauli is on the North Eastern border of Madhya Pradesh.
The NCL (Northern Coalfields Limited) has been geologically divided into two parts namely ;
(i) Main Basin1890 sq. km.
(ii) Moher Sub-basin 312 sq. km. Except for Moher & Moher-Amlohri Extension Coal Blocks allocated to Sasan Power Ltd, all the coal blocks in Moher Sub-basin and 11 number coal blocks in Main Basin are retained with NCL as CIL Blocks. All the Coal Mining operations of NCL are at present concentrated in Moher Sub-basin through 10 number opencast mines:
1. Nigahi
2. Ahmlori
3. Jayant
4. Khadia
5. Dudhichua
6. Bina
7. Krishnashila
8. Block B
9. Jhingurda 10. Kakri
NCL Capacity
NCL has total coal reserve of 10.06 BT[ (Billion Tonnes), (6.83 BT in Moher Sub-basin and 3.23 BT in Main Basin).] Out of this reserve, the industry has extracted 1.7 BT of coal from Moher Sub-basin till March 2019. Major part of the Moher sub-basin lies in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh and a small part lies in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. All the coal mining operations of NCL are at present concentrated in Moher Sub-basin through 10 numbers of advanced technology equipped opencast mines. Singrauli main basin lies in the western part of the coalfield and is largely unexplored.
NCL dispatched 101.50 MT in 2018-19, approximately. This quantity is 14% of the total coal production of India. The targets for coal production in 2019-20 and 2020-21 are 106.25 and 110.50 MT respectively. The coal supply from NCL has made it possible to produce about 10515 MW of electricity from pithead power plants (NTPC) having power generation of 13295 MW. In addition, NCL is also supplying coal to power plants of Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd, Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB), Haryana State Electricity Board, Lanco, Adani Power etc.
Visit the link of NCL for detailed list of the 10 mines, their capacity, dispatch and MOUs.
http://nclcil.in/page.php?pid=19
Capacity of NCL;
Coal dispatch: NCL has Coal Handling Plants (CHP) with dispatch capacity of 68.5 MTPA and crushing capacity of 68.5 MTPA as on date.
Visit the link below for project wise capacity and date of commissioning;
http://nclcil.in/page.php?pid=89
What is Miniratna Company?
In a Miniratna, the company boards must be able to do investment upto a limit (depending on its status) without seeking any permission from the government.
2 categories of Miniratna;
Miniratna-I: Up to Rs. 500 crore or equal to their net worth, whichever is lower.
Miniratna-II: up to Rs. 300 crore or up to 50% of their net worth, whichever is lower.
Modern Technology of NCL;
NCL uses new technologies for coal and OB production. Major steps taken by NCL for modernization of infrastructure are as follows:
Shovel Dumper System:NCL has high capacity (e.g. 20 CuM) Electric Rope Shovels and Electric Dumpers (e.g. 120 Te, 170 Te and 190 Te). Electric Dumpers are good for the environment as they do not pollute. A typical dump truck uses between 11,000 to 22,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year. The Electric Dumper hence saves up to 196 metric tons of global-warming carbon-dioxide gas a year.
Dragline System:NCL has the world’s best over burden removal system. It has 22 numbers of Draglines. Coal India’s biggest Dragline, Somnath (33/72) having bucket size of 33 CuM is also in NCL. Properties of a dragline machine;
– Heaviest Equipment of an open cast mine
– Can excavate deep into the earth
– Drags material from a far off distance
– Mechanism of the machine is based on 2 ropes one is hoist rope for lifting, another is drag rope for dragging.
Watch and SUBSCRIBE my Youtube video upon NCL Singrauli
Surface Miner:In NCL, there are 4 Surface Miners deployed for coal production. The main advantage of surface miners is that they don’t require drilling and blasting operation. Surface Miner removes material from the top surface layer after layer. The resultant product is purely coal free from overburden (OB).
Follow my Youtube video for clear viewing of Surface Miner and Drag Line Machine
Development of IT infrastructure:In NCL, Total Stations and 3-D Laser Scanner are used for survey along with SURPAC software.
OITDS (Operator Independent Truck Dispatch System), CIL video on OITDS https://youtu.be/qxAH8HUj2qE
has been installed in all 10 Mty or more capacity mines.
Beside these, GPS based vehicle tracking system for coal transportation along with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)system, boom barrier, camera for snapshot and integration with existing weighbridge system are being executed. A comprehensive CCTV surveillance system is also being executed. COALNET, an ERP package, Online File Tracking system, Online Bill Tracking system and e-office are already in operation. NCL is the leading mining company of the nation having simulators for training of Dragline, Dumper and Dozer operators.
Workshops:NCL is equipped with Central Workshop (CWS) at NCL Jayant along with Base workshops in each of its mine as well as Condition Monitoring Cell (CMC) for ensuring reliability of HEMMs.
Advanced Blasting System:In NCL, electronic detonator system (blasting caps) is being used for controlled blasting in all major opencast mines to ensure proper fragmentation and minimum ground vibration, especially near villages and townships.
Quality:
NCL has 5 numbers of NABL accredited labs having highly sophisticated laboratory equipment and other facilities related to coal sample collection, preparation, testing and analysis.
The labs are equipped with GCV ( Gross Calorific Value ) testing machines. The GCV determines the monetory value of coal. The money value received by NCL party depends upon the GCV. Presently third party sampling work is being done by CSIR-CIMFR. They collect and prepare the coal sample according to BIS 436 part II.
Automatic Mechanical Samplers (AMS) are installed in different Silos of opencast mines of NCL to fasten as well as to ensure precision in coal sample collection process.
Advanced Communication System:The existing optical fiber cable network in NCL is laid between HQ/Projects/ Units for voice and data communication. IP based radio network has been established between HQ and Projects/ Unit as an alternate media for voice and data communication with minimum bandwidth of 50 Mbps uplink and downlink per site. This IP Based radio connectivity automatically takes over during the failure of optical fiber cable. NCL has also established alternate connectivity through optical fiber cable between HQ and Projects/Units and Projects to all weighbridges through optical fiber cable and radio backup link. Video Conferencing System has also been installed in NCL-HQ and Projects/Units for effective communication between the HQ and Projects/Units.
Connectivity;
Coal Handling Plants (CHPs): In NCL, coal is being dispatched to its consumers through Indian Railways (IR), Merry-Go-Round (MGR), Belt Pipe Conveyor (BPC) and roads. The MGR consists of rakes of 48-56 wagons. The capacity of each wagon varies for different Power Plants of NTPC. Usually the capacity of a wagon is 60 tonnes. The type of wagon also varies for different Power Plants. Some use bottom opening whereas some use the side opening type. MGR facilitates the rakes to enter into the Power Plants through one route, exit and return to loading points of the respective CHPs, hence completing the cycle.
Currently, there are 9 nos. of Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) in NCL having capacity of 69.0 Mty. From these CHPs coal is loaded to rakes through Rapid Loading Systems (RLS) and then it is dispatched to nearby thermal power plants through MGR mode. It takes approximately 2 minutes to fill a wagon through hydraulic operated Rapid Loading System.
Other than existing 9 CHPs, one CHP is under construction at Krishnashila Project having capacity of 4.0 Mty. NCL has also planned for 4 nos. of new CHPs to further increase the capacity by 35.0 Mty by 2021-22. Recently, 2 nos. of incremental CHPs have been commissioned at Khadia and Nigahi Projects.
Wharfwalls: In addition to CHPs, there are 7 nos. of wharfwalls within mine leasehold area currently in operations and 1 no. of wharfwall is under construction at Block-B Project to ensure coal supply to up-country power plants. One wharfwall is in planning stage for Khadia Project for further increasing evacuation capacity of NCL. Action has also been taken for interconnecting railway and MGR tracks to achieve universal access system.
Belt Pipe Conveyor (BPC) System: NCL has facilitated its linked customer to evacuate coal through Belt Pipe Conveyor (BPC) system. This new system is more efficient, productive and eco-friendly as compared to conventional Bucket Trolley System and Roller Pulley conveyor system. The spillage of material (coal) through this system is exactly zero.
Doubling of Railway tracks connecting Chopan-Singrauli-Katni and Chopan-Kareila-Shaktinagar with the NCL’s sidings: This will further augment coal dispatch by NCL. At present the Singrauli zone (Chopan-Singrauli- Katni with the NCL’s sidings) is connected with single railway line which affects the rail movement and leads to frequent congestion in the area. The average rakes despatched per day is limited to 25. On any day if there is dispatch of 30-32 rakes the congestion affects the dispatches on the subsequent days leading to drastic fall in loading. This requires the attention of the railways to enhance the rail movement facility to cope up the dispatches to the extent of 30-32 rakes per day on an average basis during the coming years. Hence doubling of railways track for faster movement has become necessity and Indian Railways is currently working on this Project.
Electrification and advance Railway Signaling System: With enhancement of rail dispatches to 30-32 rakes per day it is envisaged that the electrification of railway tracks with advance singling system is also commissioned in phase wise for easier movement. The project is being taken up by EC Railways.
NTPC Projects:
Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station (SSTPS)
This power station was set up in 1977. It is a pit head Thermal Power Station having an installed capacity of 2000 MW with five units of 200 MW each and two units of 500 MW each.
Water supply for the purpose is drawn from the Rihand reservoir. Several States like U.P. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi etc. have benefited from the electricity generated by the project.
Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Project
Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Project of NTPC is located in the district of Singrauli in the State of Madhya Pradesh. This project is in Singrauli region which adjoins the State of Madhya Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh and is about 225 Kms, south of Varanasi City. Vindhyachal is a pithead Power Station of installed capacity 1260 MW (6X210 MW) under Stage-I , 1000 MW (2X500 MW) of Stage-II), 1000 MW (2X500 MW) under Stage-III and 500 MW under Stage-IV. Presently the total capacity of this project is 4760 MW.
Rihand Super Thermal Power Project (RhSTPP)
Rihand Super Thermal Power Project (RhSTPP) is located in the District of Sonebhadra in the state of Uttar Pradesh and 225 KM from Varanasi and is the third NTPC project in the Singrauli region.
RhSTPP is a pithead power station with a capacity of 3000 MW in three stages, 1000 MW (2×500 MW each) in Stage-I, 1000 MW (2×500 MW each) in Stage-II and Stage-III.
Visit the link for CSR activities by NCL;
http://nclcil.in/page.php?pid=59
