India’s Nalco struggling with power supplies

India’s state-owned primary aluminium producer Nalco has been struggling for more than a week with low coal shipments to the captive power plant supplying its Angul smelter in the eastern state of Orissa. The company has already closed two out of eight units at the power plant and has warned that its coal stocks are becoming critically low. It is also said to have been trying to buy power from other sources to avoid a forced closure of parts of the 345,000tpy smelter. Land-related disputes with local tribals are at the heart of the current coal problems with Nalco’s supplier Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd itself trying to buy extra coal from other producers.