NLC India to invest Rs 1.3 trillion to increase mining, power capacity

Of the total proposed investment, around 70% will be funded through debt and the rest through equity

NLC India, a Navaratna company that comes under the Union coal ministry, has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 1.29 trillion for increasing its mining and power generation capacity. Of the total proposed investment, around 70 per cent would be funded through debt and the rest through equity, the company said. The investment includes the acquisition of power assets worth around 3,000 megawatts.

The proposed investment is to achieve the company's vision of taking the total mining capacity from 30.60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 62.55 mtpa by 2025. The power production capacity will be increased to 16,580 Mw from 4,431 Mw, taking the total power generation capacity to 21,011 Mw.

The additional power generation capacity includes 5,980 Mw of coal and 4,060 Mw of renewable assets. NLC, which was formerly known as Neyveli Lignite Corporation, has been producing power based on lignite.

Currently, of the total 4,431 Mw power-generation capacity, around 3240 Mw is based on lignite, 1000 Mw on coal and 191 Mw on renewable energy. Major chunk of the additional capacity will come from coal and renewable.

The total new renewable capacity of 3000 Mw will be achieved through the acquisition of 1200 Mw from Raghunathpur-DVC joint venture and 1,800 Mw power assets acquisition.

Besides, the company plans to add 3,360 Mw of solar and 200 Mw of wind projects before September 2020 taking the total renewable power project capacity of 4,087 Mw.