NALCO enters power sector; to sign MoU with NPCIL

State-owned aluminium and copper giant NALCO (National Aluminium Co) plans to increasingly enter the energy sector as an independent power producer. The company is exploring thermal, hydro and nuclear options for this, chairman and managing director C R Pradhan said on Saturday.

The company has already successfully negotiated a joint venture with state monopoly Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd to promote a 1000 mw nuclear power plant estimated to cost of Rs8,000 crore, Pradhan told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.

The NCPIL board recently approved the JV proposal and a memorandum of understanding between the two companies is slated to be signed within a month. However, the exact location of the project is yet to be decided, Pradhan said.

NALCO will hold a 49 per cent stake in the project, with 51 per cent vested with NPCIL. As per the MoU, NPCIL will be in control of the reactor of the nuclear power plant and Nalco will look after the power generation process after steam is produced using nuclear power.

This apart, the 'navratna' PSU is scouting several locations in Orissa, North-east India, and Nepal for hydroelectricity projects. It has already intimated its interest to the Orissa government for developing three hydroelectricity projects between Hirakud and Rengali.

Pradhan also said NALCO has achieved 100 per cent capacity utilisation in its alumina refinery and smelter sections, and has also met the sales targets in the last fiscal despite the adverse market conditions.