Heavy Rain hits power generation at NeyveliHe

CUDDALORE: 

         Power generation at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) was affected due to intermittent rain for the past three days leading to inundation of floodwaters in the mines. The generation of power dropped to around 1,300 MW in the past three days from the recent average generation of around 2,000 MW. The installed capacity of the NLC is 2,470 MW.

            Thermal power plant I generates less than 50 MW power as against its installed capacity of 600 MW, thermal power plant I expansion generates 200 MW as against its installed capacity of 420 MW and thermal power plant II generates around 1,000 MW as against its installed capacity of 1,470 MW. Power generated from thermal power station I was earmarked for Tamil Nadu and NLC alone. Mining operations of the corporation was affected for the past three days due to floodwaters following incessant rain. The pumping capacity to drain inundated water had been increased and the corporation was taking all measures to step up power generation.

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Neyveli Lignite Corporation pays Rs 361cr dividend to Coal Ministry

          State-owned Neyveli Lignite Corporation  (NLC) paid a dividend of Rs 361.02 crore to the Ministry of Coal for the 2010-11 fiscal. The dividend cheque was presented to Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal by NLC Chairman and Managing Director AR Ansari, an official statement said.

           In the last fiscal, the PSU had declared a 23% dividend, amounting to Rs 448.47 crore, it said. "The shareholders of the company at the 55th Annual General Meeting held on September 12 have declared a dividend at the rate of 23 per cent for the financial year 2010-11. 

The total dividend payout... 

             amounts to Rs 448.47 crore," the statement said. NLC had reported nearly flat growth in profit to Rs 342.8 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from Rs 342.1 crore in the corresponding period of 2009-10. The company has four opencast lignite mines with a capacity of about 30.60 million tonne per annum, while it can produce about 2,740 MW of power from four power plants.

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Coal Ministry to play fair in NTPC-NLC tussle for coal blocks

    

    NLC’s request would be considered along with other companies at the time of bidding for blocks.

  In the tussle for coal blocks between power generator NTPC Ltd and Lignite miner Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), the coal ministry has decided to play fair. It will entertain its public sector undertaking NLC's request for the allocation of blocks that earlier belonged to NTPC, only along with other companies during the bidding rounds that are due soon.

        The ministry had cancelled the allocation of five of the eight NTPC blocks earlier this year, alleging undue delays in their development. The power ministry had later intervened by requesting its coal sector counterpart to review its decision. While negotiations between the two ministries are still on, NLC has sought the allocation of three of the five blocks—Chatti Bariatu, Chatti Bariatu (South) and Kerandari.

        A senior coal ministry official told Business Standard there was no provision for allocating the blocks to NLC on a nomination basis. “There is a proper procedure that will be followed for allocation. NLC's request would be considered along with other companies at the time of bidding for blocks,” he said.

           The three blocks sought by NLC for power generation are located in Jharkhand and have combined reserves of over 800 million tonne (Mt). NLC's contentious demands, if met, would mark Lignite miner's foray into coal mining and coal-based power generation. It would also dent NTPC's long-term fuel securing strategy. NLC has a current lignite-based power generation capacity of 2,700 Mw and it plans to add another 5,000 Mw by setting up two coal-based plants of 2,000 Mw capacity each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamilnadu, and another 1,000 Mw plant in Tamilnadu. NLC's proposed plants would require around 20 Mt of coal annually. An e-mail sent to NLC Chairman A R Ansari for comments remained unanswered.

           NTPC is, however, hopeful of getting back the lost blocks. “NTPC is working full swing on these blocks on land acquisition, forest and environment clearance and we do not think our blocks would be taken,” said a senior company official. The Maharatna enterprise currently consumes around 150 Mt of coal to operate 36,000 Mw capacity annually. Its coal requirement is set to grow to 250 Mt by 2017, around 20 per cent of which would be met through captive coal production.

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Industrial saftey begins at home: NLC Chairman

        The Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) has a remarkable safety record and an excellent supervisor - worker ratio of 1:6, the highest in the country, said its chairman and managing director A R Ansari.

He was speaking at function organised here recently to celebrate ‘Safety Week’.

         Stating that industrial safety began at home, Ansari said even a small disturbance due to a less conducive environment at home will disturb the concentration of employees leading to accidents and damage in the workplace. D Sengupta, Deputy Director General Mines Safety/Southern Zone, Bengaluru, who was the chief guest, said that most of the accidents occurred due to human error. He suggested collection of data of accidents and analysing them to sort out the causes and factors.

        By this systematic analysis, one could identify the vulnerable areas and improve the working conditions on safety by deploying more number of supervisors, thus nullifying accidents, he added. The TN and Kerala Mines Safety Association is creating safety awareness among the mine employees, especially in the unorganised sectors. Every year, the association celebrates Safety Week at all 331 mines in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.Five units of NLC, viz, all the three thermal power stations, mechanical services and central workshop, have had a zero accident rate in 2010.

          Based on the maximum number of man days, Thermal Power Station-II was awarded the Chairman’s shield for reduction in injury rate among the production units, while central workshop bagged the Director (Mine)’s Shield for reduction in the injury rate among service units. Thermal Power Station-I, Thermal Power Station-I Expansion and Mechanical Services Department were also honoured with special awards. Also, Thermal Power Station -I Expansion received special appreciation for achieving ‘zero-accident’ for five consecutive years.

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NLC got 2nd Asia’s Best Employer Awards

 

         Shri S.K. Acharya, Director (HR) (third from left) receiving the HR Leadership Award’ by World HRD Congress in 2nd Asia’s Best Employer Awards ceremony 2011 at Singapore

           Shri S.K. Acharya, Director (HR) of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd has been awarded the prestigious “HR leadership Award” by ‘World HRD Congress’ and the ‘Employer Branding Institute’ for his outstanding contribution in the field of Human Resource. The Award was conferred on him in the 2nd Asia’s Best Employer Awards Ceremony held at SUNTEC CITY, Singapore on 22ndJuly 2011.

            A passionate professional, Shri Acharya is known for his innovative approach to HR policies and practices that he has been demonstrating over last 3 decades of his career starting with Heavy Engineering Sector (BHEL), Power Sector (NTPC and NTPC - SAIL Power Co.) and now in Mining cum Power Sector as Director (HR) on the Board of NLC Ltd. With his motto ‘people at core’ he goes beyond the traditional mould of HR aligning people practices with business model of the organization.

             A widely traveled and well trained person in India and abroad, Shri Acharya lends his services in academics as a visiting faculty to many premier Business Schools and Management Institutions. As a life member of National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM), Chairman, NIPM Neyveli Chapter and as member, HR committee of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), India, he is actively associated with promotional activities for enriching HR profession as a whole.  

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NLC seeks coal assets in Indonesia, South Africa

          India’s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (NLC) is seeking to acquire coal assets in Indonesia and South Africa through joint ventures (JVs) with local companies.

        The acquisitions would be used to source feedstock for the company’s expansion and greenfield thermal power projects in India. The coal blocks to be acquired in Indonesia and South Africa through JVs would be linked as raw material sources for NLC’s ongoing thermal power projects, like the thermal power station II expansion of two 250 MW units and the Tuticorin thermal power project, comprising two 500 MW units located in the southern Indian town of Tuticorin.

         NLC had taken a strategic decision to reduce lignite mining operations because of problems of land acquisition and mining of hard rock surfaces in the country and instead leverage its mining capabilities to develop mines overseas and expand thermal power generating capacities within India, linked to its overseas assets, company officials said. NLC might even consider two separate JV partners for Indonesia and South Africa.

         However, a final decision will be taken only after geological confirmation of the coal reserves and commercial proposals to be submitted by proposed JV partners, the officials said. NLC would be willing to transport the coal extracted from overseas blocks in Indonesia and South Africa in its entirety to domestic thermal power plants or share the extracted coal with its proposed JV partner, depending on the agreement that may be concluded between the companies and the mineable reserves of the blocks acquired.

        Meanwhile, NLC has proposed setting up a 1 000 MW coal-based power plant in Ib Valley in the eastern India state of Orissa in collaboration with Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner. The project would entail an investment of $1-billion. NLC and MCL have a separate JV to develop a coal reserve in Talabira, Orissa that will produce 20-million tons of coal a year, part of which would be linked to feed the Ib Valley power project.

           NLC, which operates predominantly in southern India, has three lignite reserves that produces 10.5-million tons, three-million tons and 10.5-million tons of lignite respectively. The company also operates three lignite-based power plants in southern India with generating capacities of 600 MW, 1 470 MW and 420 MW respectively.

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