Nalco may invest Rs 900 cr on wind power facility in Odisha

Firm signs pact IIT-Bhubaneswar

Aluminium PSU National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is evaluating possibilities of putting up a 150 Mw capacity wind power plant in Odisha. The investment on the proposed green power project may exceed Rs 900 crore considering the thumb rule that for every MW capacity created in wind energy, Rs 6-6.5 crore is needed.
 

“We are interested in both wind energy and solar power plants in the state. Given the necessary incentives and facilities, Nalco would proceed on these plans. We have requested the Odisha government to provide land and other clearances for the green power projects,” said Nalco’s chairman and managing director, T K Chand.
 

Nalco’s wind power projects in other states of 198 MW capacities were dedicated to the nation on Saturday by Piyush Goyal, Union minister for mines, power and new & renewable energy in the presence of tribal affairs minister Jual Oram. Both Goyal and Oram are in Bhubaneswar to attend the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP’s) National Executive meeting on April 15-16. Nalco’s other wind power plants with a combined capacity of 120 Mw are also in the pipeline.
 

Nalco inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Defence ministry PSU- Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (Midhani) for the manufacture of high-end aluminium alloys. Such valued added products which find applications in aerospace and transportation sectors would act as import substitute alloys, Chand said.
 

Separately, Nalco entered into a pact with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar to boost its research activities. Nalco, till now, has earned 29 patents and commercialised five of them.
 

Nalco is jointly setting up a 2400 MW coal-fired, supercritical power plant with NTPC at Gajamara in Dhenkanal. In the first phase, 1400 MW will come up, said Chand. Power generated from this upcoming station being set up at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore, would cater to Nalco’s brownfield and Greenfield expansion in aluminium.
 

The navratna PSU is setting up a new smelter at Kamkahyanagar in the vicinity of this power plant at a capacity of 0.6 million tonne per annum. Besides this, Nalco is also expanding capacity of its existing brownfield smelter at Angul.