NLC India to invest ₹1.25 lakh crore by 2030, targets 20 GW capacity with green focus

Time of India

6 days ago

NLC India Ltd
, a
public sector enterprise
, is planning to invest ₹1.25 lakh crore by 2030 to expand its capacity from the existing 6.7 gigawatt (GW) to 20 GW, Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the company has said.
He said, out of ₹1.25 lakh crore planned capex, the company will be spending around ₹65,000 crore on renewables and other green initiatives, while around ₹45,000 crore will be earmarked for thermal and around ₹15,000 crore for mining.
The official elaborated that out of the ₹65,000 crore capex on renewables, around ₹15,000 crore will be on the
battery storage system
. "We are having an aggressive capacity addition plan, adding the renewable capacity as well as the conventional capacity to take the capacity from the existing 6.7 gigawatt to 20 gigawatt. For that, the Capex requirement is around ₹1.25 lakh crore by 2030," Kumar told PTI.
NLCIL is arranging finance for the planned capex of ₹1.25 lakh crore through internal accruals, domestic loans, Initial Public Offering's (IPOs), External Commercial Borrowings, he explained.
NLC is contemplating starting a consulting business abroad, initially in Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Africa, and the Middle East and acquire battery mineral assets overseas - especially in Vanadium, Cobalt, Lithium and Copper, among others, he said.
Recently, NLC got two critical mineral blocks in Chhattisgarh and with that experience the company is exploring the possibilities of critical mineral mining abroad also. "Some due diligence is being done for some lithium mines in Mali. And some copper and cobalt mines in the African state of Congo. So, we are open for exploration of
critical minerals
across the globe. We are finding opportunities and doing due diligence to take it forward," he said.