Coal India plans to invest Rs 5,650 crore in solar power projects

State-owned Coal India on Monday said it plans to set up 14 rooftop and ground-mounted solar power projects of 3,000 Mw capacity by 2023-24, which will entail an investment of Rs 5,650 crore.
 
Coal India (CIL) is mandated by the coal ministry to become a net zero carbon company. Solar power initiative is a part of CIL’s diversification plans, the PSU said in a filing to BSE.
 
The likely investment would be around Rs 5,650 crore, it said.
 

While Rs 3,650 crore is planned to be invested through CIL’s capex, till ‘2023-24, the rest would be met through joint venture models that the company intends to pursue for this initiative.

 
Synergising their efforts, CIL and NLC India Ltd have floated a joint venture entity ‘Coal Lignite Urja Vikas Private Ltd’ to develop 1,000 MW solar power projects.
 
CIL has also tied up a JV with NTPC and an MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India for solar projects of 1,000 Mw each, the progress of which is being worked out individually.
 
Additionally, the solar power initiative helps CIL reduce its whopping annual power consumption expense, which was around Rs 3,400 crore ending FY2020, accounting for around 4.4 per cent of the revenue expense for the year.  Any saving under the power bill would also bolster the bottom line of the company to that extent, the  PSU said. Beginning with a modest 10 Mw solar capacity during the ongoing fiscal, CIL would gradually peak up to 1,340 Mw in 2023-24.

 
For FY2023, solar power capacity addition is targeted at 1,293 Mw, with 220 mw capacity to come up in 2021-22.
 
CIL gets one-day strike notice from workers
 
Coal India in a BSE filing on Monday said it had been served a one-day strike notice by four trade unions for November 26.
 
Efforts would be made to avert the strike and conciliatory process is going on, it said, without divulging further details.