Coal India’s Chairman Pramod Agarwal has stated that its joint venture with state-run NLC India Ltd plans to invest heavily in solar power projects. The proposal is to begin with an investment of around 125 billion rupees ($1.73 billion) to create an output capacity of 3,000 megawatts(MW). The initial investment of 60 billion rupees by Coal India will happen before March 2024.
Coal India Ltd., the world’s largest coal miner, could venture aggressively into solar wafer manufacturing and to participate in the country’s solar energy auctions, said its chairman on Tuesday.
Pramod Agarwal said in an interview said, “Coal as you know, we’re going to lose business in the next two-three decades. Solar will take over coal slowly as a major energy provider in the coming years. We are just exploring the possibilities where we can invest in solar wafer production, nobody is (currently) there in the country.”