NLC India On Track To Generate 20 GW Power By 2030: CMD

NLC India Ltd. is set to generate 20 gigawatts of renewable and thermal power by 2030, according to the company’s Chairman and Managing Director Prasanna Kumar Motupalli. The Navratna public sector undertaking also aims to reach the production target of 100 million metric tonnes of coal and lignite during the same time period.

Talking to NDTV Profit, Motupalli outlined the company’s plans in the long term and how it aims to achieve the target by the end of this decade. 

The top executive said that NLC India’s total capacity stands at 6.4 GW, including 1.4 GW in the renewables portfolio and the balance of 4.4 GW of thermal power.

“We are targeting to increase this capacity of 6.4 GW to 20 GW by 2030. Out of that, 10 GW will be thermal and 10 GW will be renewables,” Motupalli said.

He revealed that the company wants to increase its renewable energy capacity from 1.4 GW currently to 10 GW in 2030, marking a seven-fold jump.

“Particularly in renewables, as of date we are having 1.4 GW; we want to increase this seven times. While the country is targeting to triple the renewable capacity, we are targeting to increase our renewable capacity by seven times,” he said.

Talking about the state-owned coal producer’s mining operations, the top executive said that as of date, NLC India is approximately a 44 million metric tonne coal and lignite-producing company. The total production includes 20 MT of coal and 24 MT of lignite.

“We are aiming to take it to 100 million metric tonnes by 2030. In line with that, already we got three commercial coal blocks in the recent auctions,” he said.

The company has three new commercial coal blocks in Jharkhand and Odisha. One is in North Dhadu in Jharkhand, and two blocks are located in Machhakata and New Patrapada in Odisha.

“If you combine all these capacities, the total capacity is more than 100 million metric tonnes,” the NLC India CMD said.

“Particularly, the Machhakata coal mine has used reserves of 1.4 billion tonnes and has an annual capacity of 30 million metric tonnes. The New Patrapada coal block, which we recently got, is a decent mine as well. There, too, around 15 million metric tonnes of production is possible,” he noted.

Motupalli said that the company aims to produce more than 40 million metric tonnes of coal and lignite this year, after producing 36 million metric tonnes last year. He noted that the company was already in line with fulfilling the target.

“We are hopeful to produce around 40 million metric tonnes. Out of that, 25 million metric tonnes will be from lignite and around 17 million metric tonnes from coal. In total we will be producing around 42 million metric tonnes in the current financial year,” he said.

Shares of NLC India Ltd. opened flat at Rs 263.85 apiece on Thursday, before dropping to the intraday low of 262.05. The stock was trading 0.53% down at 262.45 at 10:20 a.m., compared to the benchmark Nifty 50 down 0.27% at 24,400.55.