CIL plans ₹13,000 cr thermal power plant

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL) has decided to develop India's first-ever thermal power plant in Odisha. The power plant, which will have a capacity of 1,600 MW (2x800 MW), will come up at Sundergarh district at an investment of ₹13,000 crore. Power producer NTPC Ltd will be a joint venture partner and will likely have a 49 per cent stake and the joint venture managed to get land and coal linkages to use the pithead stock wherein NTPC will run the plant by using existing power purchase agreements for the project. All formalities and clearances for the Sundergarh power project are in place, Chairman and Managing Director (CIL) Anil Kumar Jha, said, adding that a second super-critical power plant will also be set up by Central Coalfields Ltd, another subsidiary of the coal behemoth. The power plant, whose capacity is yet to be decided, will come up at North Karanpura area in Bokaro district of Jharkhand. NTPC and Power Finance Consultancy Ltd are the likely JV partners for the new thermal power project.