NTPC is set to acquire controlling interest in a 720-million-tonne coal field in Australia in a deal valued at $1-1.5 billion, which will enable it to fire about 3,500 mw of power capacity. The coal mines, located near Perth in Western Australia, will allow NTPC to bring home up to 10 million tonnes of coal annually for its plants.
NTPC is in touch with a power producer in Australia that has expressed interest in selling its assets that include a small power project, captive coal mine and large greenfield coal field. The debt-ridden current promoters may sell the 416 mw power project along with its captive coal mine separately from the virgin coal field.
In this case, NTPC is likely to participate only for the greenfield coal project that will give it access to 7-10 million tonnes of good-quality thermal coal. The annual production from the field could go over 12 million tonnes per annum. In case the entire project is sold as one unit, NTPC would acquire the power project as well. In this case, up to 3 million tonnes of coal from the greenfield project will used for the power plant.
NTPC needs about 125 million tonnes of coal annually for existing power plants and imports 10 million tonnes to meet the gap. The imports are expected to cross 30 million tonnes by 2017, forcing the company to look at alternative routes to build fuel security. It is already working on its eight captive coal blocks with peak production capacity of 83 million tonnes per annum. crackcrack
