Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday urged the Centre for commencement of NALCO’s brownfield expansion project for its aluminium smelter plant in Angul district.
In a letter to Union Minister of Coal, Mines Prahalad Joshi, Pradhan said the expansion project is being undertaken to increase the capacity to 1 MTPA from 0.46 MTPA, which includes construction of a 144 MW feeder Captive Power Plant (CPP). The cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 22,000 crore and at present it is still at the land acquisition stage.
“NALCO’s Bauxite production capacity will increase from 7.3 MTPA to 10.5 MTPA after operationalization of Pottangi mines. Out of this, up to 3.1 MPTA consists of alumina which has potential to be produced into 1.5 MTPA of aluminium. Worth mentioning aluminium smelting is a highly power intensive process and the feasibility of the brownfield expansion project is heavily dependent on a steady supply of affordable coal to the 1400 MW feeder CPP for uninterrupted bulk generation of power,” he said.
The Minister also proposed for the commissioning of the feeder CPP for the brownfield expansion project in Angul district which will benefit from logistical efficiencies due to its strategic location in proximity to the smelter unit and coal block.
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