Coal news and updates

Railways captive power unit may be commissioned in ‘15

August 8: The first unit of Indian Railway’s captive power plant at Nabinagar in Bihar is likely to be commissioned in 2015, said Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways on August 7.

The 4x250 MW (or 1,000 MW) coal-based captive power plant, a joint venture with National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), is estimated to cost Rs 5,350 crore.

An official release said the project at Nabinagar is being funded in debt:equity ratio of 70:30. Out of equity portion of Rs 1,606 crore, contribution of Indian Railways and NTPC would be Rs 418 crore (26%) and Rs 1,188 crore (74%) respectively.

Further, Indian Railways plans another JV with NTPC for a 2x660 MW coal-based thermal power plant at Adra in West Bengal. Application for coal linkage for the project has been submitted, the release said.