E.I.D. Parry plans to nearly double its cogeneration capacity at the Nellikuppam sugar factory to 45 MW; it will also debottleneck the sugar mill to add sugarcane crushing capacity, according to official sources.
At present, the cogeneration capacity is 23 MW by using bagasse, the fibrous material from sugarcane, as fuel. The additional capacity will use coal as fuel.
According to industry estimates, at the current level of costs pegged at Rs 6 crore/MW, the investment is estimated at about Rs 120 crore; the expansion will enable the mill generate power during the offseason to supply power to the grid.
When contacted, officials in the Murugappa Group company acknowledged that the preliminary work on the expansion of cogeneration and debottlenecking of the sugar mill to add sugarcane capacity has started.
The sugar mill capacity will go to 7,500 tonnes a day of sugarcane crushing following the debottlenecking from the present 5,000 tonnes.
The expansion will add to the existing sugarcane crushing capacity of 34,750 tonnes a day spread across nine sugar mills in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.