National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) and NTPC Ltd have entered into an MoU to form a joint venture namely NTPC-Nalco Power Company (NNPC) for developing power projects and other business collaborations in India.
The JV plans to set up its first power plant at Gajamara (Odisha) with a capacity of 2,400 MW (3X800 MW), at an estimated investment of Rs 14,000 crore. The proposed super critical power plant will supply uninterrupted power to Nalco’s smelter at Angul. The process for acquisition of 1,600 acres of land in Gajamara has already commenced.
The MoU effect was signed in New Delhi on December 16, 2016 in presence of Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, and Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
According to Piyush Goyal, joint venture is a win-win situation between Nalco & NTPC two best performing CPSUs. Nalco is planning a brownfield expansion at its aluminium smelter in Angul, with an additional capacity of 5 lakh tonnes per annum, at an estimated capex of Rs 10,000 crore. The company possesses the required land and other infrastructure for the purpose. The proposed expansion will help the Nalco to achieve economy of scale and substantially reduce its cost of production. This expansion will be taken up immediately by Nalco, incorporating latest technology ensuring reduced energy consumption and high productivity.
Nalco is also planning to set up a Greenfield aluminium smelter project with a capacity of 6 lakh tonnes per annum in Kamakhyanagar (Odisha) at an estimated investment of Rs 12,000 crore.
Dharmendra Pradhan commented, “It is a dream come true for the people of Odisha as a power project at Gajamara, smelter project at Kamakhyanagar, brownfield expansion of smelter at Angul by Nalco and TTPS project by NTPC will all together bring an investment of Rs 48,000 crore to Odisha which will greatly enhance the industrialisation, development and employment generation in Odisha.”
