With 5,000 MW planned for commissioning in the 12th Five-Year Plan, Neyveli Lignite Corporation is looking for allocation of coal blocks to fuel its growth.

The corporation plans to install two 1,980-MW coal-based plants at Ghatampur, Kanpur Nagar District in Uttar Pradesh, and Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu, besides a 1,000-MW plant at Tuticorin in TN. The Tuticorin plant alone has been awarded a coal block.

Mr A.R. Ansari, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NLC, told Business Line , that the total coal requirement from domestic sources would be about 600 million tonnes at 20 mt a year for the 30-year lifespan of the power plants. This apart, the Tuticorin unit would also need 30 per cent or 1.5 mt of imported coal annually. All the three projects are scheduled for commissioning in 2015-16.

14 BLOCKS

The corporation had identified three coal blocks such as Chatti Bariatu, Chatti Bariatu south and Kerandari in north Karanpura, in Jaharkahand. These blocks, allocated to NTPC, were among the 14 de-allocated by the Government recently and the corporation has written to the Coal Ministry seeking their allotment to it.

Asked whether the corporation would compensate NTPC, which is said to have invested Rs 500 crore there, Mr Ansari said it was for the Government to decide on the issue.

Mr Ansari said that while he was trying for an allocation for Sirkazhi project, indications were that the Uttar Pradesh plant would get one by this year-end. Things would be much clearer by then, he said.

EXISTING PLANTS

The corporation operates four fully mechanised open cast lignite mines of 30.6 million tonnes a year and handling about 164 million cubic metres of overburden by using specialised mining equipment at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and conventional mining machinery at Barsingsar in Rajasthan. The mines are linked to pit head thermal stations totalling 2,740 MW capacity.

Mr Ansari said with five decades' experience in mining and generation, the corporation had the expertise to establish modern technology projects in the field. Further, lignite-based power plants had limitations such as availability of lignite reserves for open cast mining, high stripping ratio and restriction on groundwater pumping.

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