MCL places order for 50 MW captive solar power plant in Odisha

Sambalpur (Odisha): Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a subsidiary company of Coal India Ltd (CIL), will set up a 50 Mega Watt (MW) captive solar power plant in Odisha at a total cost of Rs 301.92 crore, moving steadily towards its goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2024. MCL has placed a turnkey order to set up a 50 MW solar power plant with a Chennai-based firm M/s Hild Energy Ltd, which will establish this green energy project within a timeline of 10 months, said an official statement on Saturday.

"This solar plant would cater to the captive power requirement of MCL, which had successfully set-up a 2MW solar power plant in Sambalpur in 2014," said the statement.

MCL to install 182 MW solar power plants by 2024

MCL has pledged a target of installing 182 MW of solar power by 2024 in order to become a Net Zero energy company, aligning itself to use cleaner forms of energy for coal production, said the statement.

This 50 MW solar power plant will reduce CO2 emissions by 91,020 tonnes per annum and will offset carbon of around 24,824 tonnes per annum, said MCL.

MCL is the leading production subsidiary of Coal India, having mining operations in Angul, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh districts of Odisha. Having achieved the highest-ever capital expenditure of Rs 2,419 crore in Financial Year 2020-21, the company has coal production and dispatch targets of 163 million tonnes and 182 million tonnes, respectively. MCL was the first coal mining company to introduce environment-friendly surface miner technology, which contributes over 95 percent in coal production. As another environment-friendly initiative, the company has successfully introduced Vertical Rippers for blast-less over-burden removal in Hingula and Kaniha opencast projects.

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