Emphasisng the importance of maintaining coal quality, Goyal said, "In last two years, by and large we have seen a significant improvement in the quality of coal that is being supplied to the consumers.

Infact, NTPC has reported a reduction of nearly 20% in the cost of coal, largely by reducing the imports of coal and equally important- the quality of coal, that is supplied by the coal companies." The Minister also informed that Coal Controller of India has started the process of revisiting the coal grades of each coal mine and 22 mines have been verified till date.

As a part of this MoU, CSIR-CIMFR would make use of its knowledge based support in maintaining the quality of coal at national level for the entire power sector. It is estimated that about 300 million metric tons of coal samples would be analyzed for quality per year.

The contract value of the project is around Rs 250 crore per annum at minimum. It is also expected that this project will result in improvement in performance of power plants besides levaraging benefits to the consumer in particular and society as a whole. The endevour would help the nation in sustainable energy supply and security planning for future as it may reduce import of thermal coal.
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