BHUBANESWAR: Navratna PSU Nalco is planning to set up wind and solar power plants of 150 MW in the State for which it has sought early allocation of land from Odisha Government, said Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal here on Saturday.
Addressing the gathering at the unveiling ceremony of Nalco's wind power plants, he said while the nation is transforming into a global leader under the Prime Minister’s Swadeshi movement, it is heartening that Nalco is taking an active part in this endeavour by setting up new energy plants and increasing the capacity of its brownfield smelter at Angul from 4.6 lakh tonne to 10 lakh tonne.
He expressed satisfaction that under Make-in-India initiative, Nalco has taken steps to enhance its capacity through expansion mostly in Odisha, rather than exporting its alumina outside.
"Nalco's plans for expansion shall not only boost the development of the State but also help the country achieve new milestones in the field of aluminium industry across the globe," Goyal said.
On the NDA Government's focus on development of eastern region of the country, Goyal said India will now lead the world instead of following other countries. "NTPC is also planning for expansion to provide interrupted power supply to all villages," he said.
The Power Minister, however, rued that the attempt of MCL to increase its production is halted due to protests from locals on political reasons.
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram dedicated the wind power plants set up at Gandikota (50.4 MW) in AP, Ludarwa (47.6 MW) and Devikot (50 MW) in Rajasthan and Jath (50.4 MW) in Maharashtra.
Striking a kindred spirit with Nalco, where he started his career before joining politics, Oram lauded the PSU for its continuous efforts towards the industrial development of the State. Oram also inaugurated an exhibition on centenary celebration of Champaran Satyagraha.
Nalco signed an MoU with IIT-Bhubaneswar on R&D under its industry-institution interaction programme and another MoU with MIDHANI, a central PSU under Ministry of Defence, for high-end aluminium products to reduce imports of such items.
Nalco CMD Tapan Kumar Chand said apart from the expansion at Angul, Nalco is also adding one million tonne to the 2.275 million tonne alumina refinery at Damanjodi for which environment clearance has been obtained. "The investment for the green energy project in Odisha will be more than `900 crore," he informed.
Later, the ministers handed over cheques to 10 BPL girl students from Angul and Damanjodi under the 'Nalco ki Ladli' scheme. The company, as part of the scheme designed on line with the Centre's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' programme, has given support to 181 meritorious girl students so far.