SHAKTI scheme: Second round of auction to keep out former winners
The second round of coal auction under the Centre’s SHAKTI scheme for stressed assets would keep out former winners and bidders. Private power players have raised concern with the Cabinet Secretary that the bidding guidelines under SHAKTI-II keep out several players, which are in dire need of coal. Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India or SHAKTI is for power units with power purchase agreements (PPAs) but no long-term coal supply. Under the scheme, Coal India offers assured coal supply to units through bidding. The units have to quote the discount in their power tariffs that they would offer after getting cheaper coal from the company. The first round which was conducted in September 2017 saw the entire offered amount contracted by power developers. Leading private sector players had participated in the round by quoting discounts in their power tariff in range of 1-4 paise per unit. Adani Power, Lalitpur (Bajaj Hindustan), KSK Mahanadi, GMR Energ