Coal India to invest over $760 million in solar over 4 years to cut costs
Coal India Ltd, the world’s largest coal miner, said on Monday it would invest 56.50 billion rupees ($763 million) by March 2024 to build 14 solar projects to help power its mining operations and cut costs.
The state-run company will fund nearly two-thirds of its plan to construct rooftop and ground-mounted solar power projects with a capacity of 3,000 megawatts (MW) with cash.
A joint venture with lignite miner NLC India Ltd would finance the rest of the company’s solar expansion, it said in a statement.
“The solar power initiative helps Coal India Ltd (CIL) reduce its whopping annual power consumption expense,” the company said, adding that such costs accounted for 4.4% of its annual costs.
