Nalco and NTPC to set up a 2400 MW power plant in Odisha

National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) and NTPC Limited signed a MoU in New Delhi on Friday to set up a 2400 MW (8×300 MW) power plant at Gajmara in Dhenkanal district.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal informed that the generated power will be taken by the NALCO as a joint venture (JV) partner for the Brownfield expansion of its 5 lakh tonne Aluminium smelter at Angul and the Greenfield project of a 6 lakh tonne smelter at Kamakhya Nagar in Odisha. The estimated investment in all these projects will be approximately Rs. 36,000 crores.

Goyal said the NTPC would be able to provide uninterrupted power supply to Nalco’s new ventures through this project. “We have brought back aluminium smelter plant to the people of Odisha, which was going to be established outside the country due to lack of cheap power in the country a couple of years back. This would not only give a boost to employment generation in the region but also give a fillip to economy of the country as a whole,” Goyal said.

Goyal said that the Ministry has taken cognizance about the pollution being caused by thermal power plants in the region and NTPC has accorded in-principle approval to modernize all power plants older than 25 years, in the next 5 years, by replacing them with energy efficient supercritical power plants. Hence the people of Dhenkanal will experience an improvement in the Quality of Life in the times to come, he added.

Congratulating the Ministry of Power for executing the long pending project, Dharmendra Pradhan said that after the establishment of this power plant, this less developed region of Odisha would experience the fruits of its own mineral wealth being used for the all-round development of its own people, which was not the case so far. The 2400 MW power plant at Dhenkanal and the increased Aluminium production at Angul and Kamakhya Nagar would fuel industrial growth, in a sustainable manner, that would transform the face of the region in near future, he added.

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