Aluminium major Nalco on Friday said it will set up a nuclear power plant in Gujarat in association with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) at a gross investment of Rs 12,600-crore. "The project will be undertaken by our joint venture company in which NPCIL will hold majority stake. The JV agreement for the same is expected by October-end," Nalco CMD A K Shrivastava told PTI in an interview. The two state-owned entities had last year entered into a pact to explore possibilities of collaborating in the field of nuclear power. The proposed power project will have an annual production capacity of 1400 MW and would come up in Surat, Gujarat. Two separate units of 700 MW are likely to be built. For generating one mega watt of nuclear power, an investment of about Rs 9 crore is required. "We are now betting big on the power sector. We have joined hands with NPCIL to foray into the business of generating nuclear power for commercial use," he added.
The proposed project is to be funded jointly by both the companies in proportion to their equity holding in the joint venture entity. Nalco, at present, has a cash reserve of around Rs 4,400 crore, Shrivastava said. "NPCIL has the capability of setting up nuclear power. For us, it is an attractive avenue," he added. Nalco, at present, operates 1,200 MW coal-based power unit at its existing aluminum operations in Orissa. Meanwhile, the navratna company has also announced independent Rs 6,000 crore capacity expansion projects in the aluminum space, which can also see creation of additional 1,250 MW unit in Orissa. Moreover, the PSU also plans to set up a super critical thermal power plant of 1,980-MW capacity (3X660-MW) in Dhenkanal district of Orissa.
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