Govt Directs Thermal Power Plants To Auction Fly Ash Through Transparent Bidding

Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, R K Singh, held a meeting on Wednesday (22 September) to review the status of fly ash transportation to the end-users and the fly ash utilisation.

The Ministry has issued an advisory to power plants to auction the fly ash through a transparent bidding process.

“It was directed that power plants shall invariably auction the fly ash through a transparent bidding process and an advisory has been issued by the Ministry for this purpose. This will reduce the tariff of electricity and burden on the consumers,” the official statement said.

The fly ash will be offered to the end-users on the competing demand basis, i.e. the end-users who provide the highest price for fly ash and seek minimum support for transportation cost will be offered the same fly ash on priority.

However, the advisory said if some quantity of fly ash remains unutilised after bidding, then as one of the options, it could be given free of cost on a first-come, first-served basis if the user agency is willing to bear transportation costs.

“If ash remains unutilised even after the steps taken as above, thermal power plant (TPP) shall bear the cost of transportation of fly ash to be provided free to eligible projects,” the Ministry said.