The Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) has announced that it will be investing Rs 1,290 billion ($17,945,190) in its power generation and mining sectors by 2025. As part of this investment, the NLC also plans to set up a number of renewable energy projects with a total generation capacity of 4251 Megawatts (MW). This would represent a significantly increased interest in renewable energy from a company whose primary focus has been, until recently, lignite and coal-based power. Currently, the NLC’s total renewable generation capacity is around 491 MW and the company expects to be able to increase that by 3,760 MW by 2025.
NLC has been steadily increasing its renewable energy generation capacity as part of a power diversification scheme. In 2017, company chairman and managing director S. K. Acharya indicated that the company did not believe its current focus on lignite and coal power was sustainable, as the high moisture content of pit extracted lignite made it unusable for long distance transfer, meaning lignite-based power stations are only economically viable if integrated power plants were set up at pit heads.
NLC is currently constructing 995 MW of solar generation capacity at both Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, with the plants expected to be ready in March 2019 and September 2019 respectively. You can read more about NLC’s renewed interest in renewable power HERE.