Coal India Ltd, the world’s largest coal miner, said on Monday it would invest ₹5,650 crore ($763 million) by March 2024 to build 14 solar projects to help power its mining operations and cut costs. The state-run company will fund nearly two-thirds of its plan to construct rooftop and ground-mounted solar power projects with a capacity of 3,000 megawatts (MW) with cash. A joint venture with lignite miner NLC India Ltd would finance the rest of the companys solar expansion, it said in a statement. The solar power initiative helps Coal India Ltd (CIL) reduce its whopping annual power consumption expense, the company said, adding that such costs accounted for 4.4% of its annual costs. Coal India plans to produce 1 billion tonnes of coal a year by 2023/24. The miners output fell for the first time in more than two decades in 2019/20 to nearly 603 million tonnes.
Courtesyg: Google (photo)
