NTPC to acquire coal mine in South Africa
15 Sep 2009
State-run NTPC said on Tuesday that it may buy acquire a coal asset in South Africa to feed its expanding capacity. The company said it is in the initial stages of discussion for the buyout deal.
The company plans to buy at least one coal mine overseas to meet the severe shortfall in domestic supplies which has badly hit several for its projects. The company has targeted a capacity of 20,000 MW by 2012, securing a stable and dependable source for the supply of coal is therefore high on the company's list of priorities.
According to NTPC CMD R S Sharma the discussions are at a preliminary stage.
The country's largest power utility is also looking to buy coal blocks that can yield up to 20 million tonnes of dry fuel per year in Australia and Mozambique.
NTPC had earlier appointed Australian firm Macquarie as consultant to carry out the due diligence for the acquisition of coal mines in Indonesia.
The state-run utility which sources most of the coal for its plants from state monopoly Coal India Ltd, will start acquiring land for a coal mining project in eastern India soon according to Sharma.
NTPC and its ventures have an installed generation capacity of 30,644 MW according the to company web site. According to the Central Electricity Authority India's total installed capacity was 151,073 MW as of 31 July.