Coal news and updates

Cabinet panel allows coal PSUs to set up 2 new thermal power projects

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a proposal for equity investment by South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) in a 1×660 MW thermal power plant through a joint venture with Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company Ltd (MPPGCL). 

It also approved investment by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) for setting-up a 2x800 MW thermal power plant through Mahanadi Basin Power Ltd (MBPL), a subsidiary of MCL.

A meeting of the CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved equity investment of Rs823 crore, or around 20 per cent, in the proposed 1×660 MW Supercritical Thermal Power Plant, as a joint venture with MPPGCL.

The joint venture company, to be set up at Amarkantak in Chachai village in MP’s Anuppur district, will have a debt-equity ratio of 70:30 with 49 per cent equity investment and an estimated capital expenditure of Rs5,600 crore (±20 per cent).

Similarly, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited will invest Rs4,784 crore (± 20%) in the proposed 2×800 MW Super-Critical Thermal Power Plant, in Sundargarh district of Odisha with an estimated capital cost of Rs15,947 crore (±20 per cent) through MBPL.

Both South Eastern Coalfields and Mahanadi Coalfields are subsidiaries of Coal India Limited (CIL), the largest coal mining company in the world, and the two pithead thermal power plants will provide cheaper power to the country, a CCEA release stated.