State-run National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is undergoing a production cut of about Rs 1 crore per day due to coal shortage. The company has to scale down the production as there has been very less availability of coal from Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL). At the Angul smelter unit in Orissa the company has slash down its daily production to 1,000 tonne against the normal rate of output at 1,200 tonne due to coal deficiency.
A total production capacity of Nalco's smelter is about 1,200 MW and it produces about 37,000 tonnes of metal per month and runs on power supplied by captive power plant unit. Due to less availability of coal, the captive power generation has gone down to about 500-600 MW a day against the normal production rate of 850-860 MW, thereby, affecting the power supply to aluminium smelter.
The company is getting about 7,400-7,500 tonnes of coal per day against its daily requirement of 12,000 tonne, primarily due to heavy rainfall. The company has shut down about 120 pots out of 960 operational pots (of the smelter) to ensure safe operations and unhindered power supply to the remaining pots. The production is expected to be normal soon, if coal supplies are restored.
