Paucity of coal has slammed brakes on the expansion plan for the NTPC unit at Kahalgaon.

“We have enough space for a phase III expansion of the power project but we have no plans for it at least for the next five years because of shortage of coal supply,” said Prashant Kumar Mahapatra, the general manager (in-charge) of the project.

In the first stage, the project produced 840MW and was expanded to 1,500MW later. The project has the capacity to supply around 2,340MW to the eastern grid of the country.

Mahapatra added that despite coal shortage, the power project has been generating 90 per cent of the plant load factor.

In the 2012-13 financial year, the project produced record quantity of power, he added. “Till March 15 this year, the project produced 14,012 million units (mu) — 576 mu more than that in 2011-12.”

Rajmahal Coalfields in Jharkhand’s Godda district, around 31km away, mainly supplies coal for NTPC Kahalgaon.