Coal India arm MCL to set up Rs 12,000-crore power plant in Odisha

Coal India arm MCL is in the process of diversifying into power generation and will set up a coal-based plant entailing an investment of around Rs 12,000 crore in Odisha, its chairman-cum-managing director O P Singh said.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) also has plans to diversify into aluminium business.

"We are into process of diversifying into power generation... The power purchase agreement is in the process of getting finalised with a few states," Singh told reporters here.

The subsidiary has applied to the government for coal linkage for the proposed 1,600-mw coal-fired power plant and the allotment is yet to be done, Singh said.

The government is also advising the company to go for diversification "so they are definitely with us", Singh explained.

Singh further said that MCL has plans to foray into aluminum business and the company is in the process of getting bauxite block allotted to it.

The tentative size of the mine would be three million tonnes per annum.

Bauxite is the most common raw material used to produce alumina for aluminium metal production.

The Sambalpur-headquartered firm which has a target of producing 176 MT of coal in the ongoing financial year is moving ahead of the target with an expected output of 190 MT by the fiscal-end.

MCL clocked a record production of over 168 million tonnes in 2021-22, registering a growth of around 14 per cent over the previous fiscal.

The Odisha-based miner dispatched 176.17 MT of coal to its consumers, up 21 per cent from the previous year.

At present, the 'mini ratna' public sector enterprise has 18 operational coal mines, including 15 open cast mines.