Orissa Sands Complex to have CPP

The Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of the Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), under the Department of Atomic Energy, located in south Orissa’s Ganjam district is set to have a Captive Power Plant (CPP). The CPP is being planned keeping in view the current power crisis in Orissa and the additional power requirement to meet OSCOM’s expansion plans in the future.

“We will require more power in the future and a CPP is being planned for this purpose. It is yet to be decided whether the CPP would be set up by OSCOM or by any private investor”, said MS Ray, chief of OSCOM. OSCOM’s power requirement is set to go up significantly as the IREL unit was aiming to double its ilmenite production capacity and set up a 10,0000 tonne per annum monazite processing plant at a combined investment of Rs 250 crore.

OSCOM, located at Matikhala, near Chhatrapur in Ganjam district, faced a serious crisis when the power distribution companies in the state imposed a load restriction on the industrial users to tide over the power shortfall. The production of the OSCOM unit reduced by 20 per cent due to the acute power crisis, said Ray. The IREL unit produces about 18,000 tonnes of ilmenite per month. Ilmenite is a rare sand mineral. The Southern Electricity Distribution Company (Southco), a power distribution company owned Reliance Energy, had asked the OSCOM authorities to reduce power consumption by 50-75 per cent of power in the wake power crisis in the state. Ilmenite being an export oriented mineral, OSCOM had requested Southco not to impose such a restriction. Following the power crisis and its impact on the production of ilmenite, OSCOM plans to reassess its export target for this fiscal.