NEW DELHI: During the year 2018-19, NTPC Limited generated 610.32 lakh tonnes of ash and 63.71 % viz. 388.81 lakh tonnes of ash had been utilised for various productive purposes, recent annual report revealed.
About 4.54 crore fly ash bricks produced by fly ash brick plants managed by its stations, which are being utilised in construction of areas of plant, ash dyke and of township.
Important areas of ash utilization are – cement and asbestos industry, ready mix concrete plants (RMC), road embankment, brick making, mine filling and land development.
Company is also pursuing new initiatives for fly ash utilization like fly ash based geopolymer road, transportation of fly ash from pithead power stations to fly ash consumption centers, setting up ash based light weight aggregate plant.
Free of Cost Supply of Fly Ash
Pond ash from all stations is being issued free of cost to all users. Fly ash is also being issued free of cost to fly ash/ clay-fly ash bricks, blocks and tiles manufacturers on priority basis over the other users from all coal based thermal power stations.
Fly ash utilisation reserve fund
Pursuant to Gazette Notification dated 3 November 2009, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), Government of India, the amount collected from sale of fly ash and fly ash based products should be kept in a separate account head and shall be utilised only for the development of infrastructure or facility, promotion and facilitation activities for use of fly ash until 100 percent fly ash utilisation level is achieved.
During the year, proceeds of Rs. 172.02 cr from sale of ash/ash products, Rs. 40.65 cr towards income on investment have been transferred to fly ash utilisation reserve fund. An amount of Rs. 207.25 cr has been utilised from the fly ash utilisation reserve fund on expenses incurred for activities as specified in the aforesaid notification of MOEF. The fund balance of Rs. 636.63 cr (31 March 2018: Rs. 631.21 cr) is reserved.
Ash Utilization Policy
NTPC has an Ash Utilization Policy, which a vision document is dealing with the ash utilization issue in an integral way from generation to end product. This policy aims at maximizing utilization of ash for productive usage along with fulfilling social and environmental obligations as a green initiative in protecting the nature and giving a better environment to future generations.
Ash park depot at Varanasi
It has taken an initiative by starting an ash park depot at Varanasi to provide dry fly ash to manufacturers of ash bricks, tiles, blocks etc. More such ash park depots would be developed to maximise ash utilisation.
Online Coal Ash Analyser
New environmental norms have mandated use of coal with ash content not exceeding 34% on quarterly average basis for coal based Thermal Power Plants located far away from coal mines/sources. To ensure its compliance, NTPC has taken initiative and Online Coal Analyser is being installed in all such power plants and all upcoming coal based thermal power plants.
