Neyveli Lignite to form JV for $1.9B coal fired project in India

Neyveli Lignite Corp will set up a 2,000MW coal-fired power unit for US$1.9 billion in the state of Odisha, India.

But it has yet to forge a joint venture with a state PSU in Odisha.

"The plant is to be set up by forging a JV with any of the state PSUs -Odisha Hydro Power Corporation, Odisha Power Transmission Corporation or Grid Corporation of Odisha. NLC is the only central PSU with core competencies in both power generation and coal mining," said a senior government official.

The plant will be built in the vicinity of NLC's allocated coal blocks, Talabira-2 and Talabira-3, situated under the command area of Mahanadi Coalfields.

A senior goverment official told the Business Standard, "Top executives of NLC had a meeting with the chief minister recently on their plan."

Odisha PSU has already signed MoUs with 29 independent power producers to set up coal plants in the region with a combined capacity of 37,000MW.

The plants are expected to be commissioned by 2013.