NLC India Ltd on Tuesday announced a collaboration with NPTI to impart training to project-affected persons and unemployed youth in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.

NLC India CMD Prasanna Kumar Motupalli stated that more such human resources should be developed by the National Power Training Institute (NPTI) to bridge the gap of knowledge and expertise requirements in the power sector, the PSU said in a statement.

He also suggested including a renewable energy module in the NPTI diploma course which is offered now under the PSU's CSR programme.

This collaboration aims at providing job-oriented post-diploma courses and post-graduate diploma courses in power plant engineering, each lasting one year, to a total of 50 individuals, comprising Project Affected Persons (PAPs) of NLCIL operating areas in Neyveli and deserving unemployed youth from Cuddalore district.

Maharatna Power PSU Power Finance Corporation \ on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with the Goa government to support various green energy initiatives in the state to tackle climate change.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in the presence of Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) said in a statement.

"Under the MoU, PFC, through innovative blended finance mechanisms in cooperation with this facility, will fund key climate projects such as renewable energy, green hydrogen, electric vehicles, waste-to-wealth technology and nature-based solutions leading to energy transition," it said.

The Goa government will facilitate the implementation of the facility by identifying and developing a pipeline of climate projects, promoting policy decisions and facilitating collaboration among stakeholders, it said.

State-owned NBCC (India) Limited has secured a contract worth Rs 332 crore for infrastructure development works for Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agriculture University.

NBCC is mainly engaged in project management consultancy (PMC) and real estate. In a statement on Tuesday, NBCC said it will "undertake infrastructural development works for the Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agriculture University across multiple campuses in Jhansi, Datia, Newari, and Morena/Khajuraho over the next three years."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art Common User Facility (CUF) POL Terminal in the outskirts of Jammu city. The project, led by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and other participating companies, will address critical challenges posed by the space-constrained existing depots of PSU OMCs in the region.

Scheduled for completion by March 31, 2025, the proposed CUF POL Terminal, situated at Pargalta and Kanna Chhargal villages near Bajalta railway station, spans a total land parcel of 115.41 acres. The estimated total capital cost, including land acquisition, for the Jammu CUF POL Terminal is Rs 676 Crore.

Former ArcelorMittal executive Jai Saraf is discussing a potential bid for Vedanta's steel business, ESL Steel, with private credit funds, according to multiple people in the know.

London-based Saraf, who used to be an executive member of the Mittal Steel board, is looking to build a consortium that could include Nithia Capital, a fund he cofounded in 2010, and certain financial investors, the people said.

The coal ministry on Monday said it has received 40 bids through offline mode for the coal mines put for sale under the ninth round of commercial auction. The government had launched the ninth round of commercial mines auction in December last year.

"The Ministry of Coal has received an overwhelming response for the coal mines offered under the ninth round of commercial coal mine auctions. A total of 40 bids have been received in offline form," an official statement said.

The ninth tranche of auction was launched for 32 coal mines. The last date for submission of bids was February 19, 2024.

After five days of increases, iron ore fell, and copper fell as China's markets reopened. Investors were assessing the likelihood of near-term demand in the largest metals consumer in the world.

After reaching their highest closing since the end of January, iron ore futures fell as much as 3.4% before cutting losses. Premier Li Qiang called for "pragmatic and forceful" measures to restore the economy's confidence, but Beijing chose to maintain the same interest rate on its policy loans for a year. Concerns over China's protracted property crisis, which affects a sector that supplies nearly 40% of the world's steel demand, have caused iron ore prices to decline this year. This week will bring more information about the forecast when major producers of iron ore, such as Rio Tinto Group and BHP Group Ltd., release their earnings reports.

Steel consumption is still low, and industry profits are low. According to Minmetals Futures Co. Ltd., local governments may nevertheless increase their efforts to support activities. According to Mysteel, major projects in several provinces, including Guangdong, are starting up again, and data indicated that over the Lunar New Year holiday, existing home sales in important cities increased.

Tension prevailed for sometime among the workers of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigham Limited-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) here on Saturday when a fire broke out on the plant premises on Saturday. Firefighters reached the spot to douse the fire. 

Confirming the fire mishap, an official release from RINL-VSP stated that a minor fire broke out at Coke Ovens & Coal Chemical Plant (CO&CCP) unit of the plant at around 10.30 a.m. on February 17 (Saturday).

“There was no damage to the plant, machinery, and production. No one was injured in the accident, and the plant’s CISF Fire Wing doused it within an hour,” the release added.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has rejected an appeal filed against the environmental clearance (EC) granted by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change for the proposed integrated steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district, on September 15, 2023, as it crossed the limitation period of 30 days.
Environmental activist Prafulla Samantara and two others had filed the appeal before NGT on December 14, 2023 seeking condonation of delay on the ground that they got a hold of the copy of the letter regarding grant of EC only on October 4.

However, the bench of B Amit Sthalekar (judicial member) and Dr Arun Kumar Verma (expert member) on Tuesday said, “The record shows that the appeal had already been drafted and verified before the notary public, Bhubaneswar, on October 18, 2023. Therefore, the averments of the delay condonation application stand falsified by the documents on record.”
The bench also observed, “There is no explanation that if the memo of appeal was ready and verified on October 18, 2023 why it could not be filed by November 4, 2023 and was filed only on December 14, 2023 after a further 26 days.”

State-owned Power Grid Corporation on Monday said its board has approved an investment worth about Rs 656 crore for implementation of electricity transmission projects in the country.

"...its Board of Directors and 'Committee of Directors on Investment on Projects in their respective meetings held on 18th February, 2024, have accorded investment approvals," a BSE filing stated.

According to the filing, the Board of Directors approved implementation of Unified Load Dispatch and Communication (ULDC) Phase-III (SCADA/EMS Upgradation Project Northern Region SLDCs at an estimated cost of Rs 514.66 crore with commissioning schedule of November 15, 2025.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have joined hands through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at advancing renewable energy initiatives across the nation. The agreement, signed at IREDA's Registered Office in New Delhi on Monday, paves the way for joint efforts in co-lending and loan syndication for a diverse spectrum of Renewable Energy projects.

IREDA’s General Manager Dr RC Sharma and PNB’s Chief General Manager Rajeeva signed the MoU in the presence of IREDA’s Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Pradip Kumar Das PNB’s MD & CEO Atul Kumar Goel, IREDA’s Director (Finance) Dr Bijay Kumar Mohanty along with senior officials from both organisations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid the foundation stone for four projects being developed by Torrent Power in Uttar Pradesh, entailing an investment of about Rs 25,000 crore.

The projects are expected to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 8,000 people in the state, Torrent Group said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Torrent Group had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uttar Pradesh for these projects during the UP Global Investors' Summit 2023 (UPGIS 2023) held in February 2023.

The foundation stone-laying ceremony of Torrent Group's four projects was part of the country's largest Ground-Breaking Ceremony (GBC) 4.0, held in Lucknow on Monday.

Steel producers in India are most at risk from Europe's new carbon tax on imports due to their high sales to the region and mills' elevated emissions intensity, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
There is a potential for an additional USD 102 to USD 190 a ton of tax charges on flows of Indian steel to the bloc over the next decade, analysts led by Emma Jones said in a report. That range — which assumes a carbon price of USD 70 — is 15% to 28% of current hot-rolled coil prices, they said.

The JSW Group Thursday said it will set up an integrated steel plant, a power plant, a port facility and a cement plant at Jagatsinghpur, Odisha with an investment of Rs 65,000 crore.

The steel plant will have the capacity to make 13.2 million tons of steel per annum and is expected to generate 30,000 jobs.

The port and jetty project will handle 52 million tons of cargo per annum. The cement plant will be able to produce 10 million tons while an iron ore slurry transportation system will have the capacity to transport 30 million tons per annum.

Maharatna power PSU NTPC Limited on Friday said it has inked an initial agreement with NALCO to supply over 1,200 MW of round-the-clock power for the aluminium maker's operations in Odisha.The MoU was signed in the presence of Dillip Kumar Patel, Director (HR), NTPC, and Jagdish Arora, Director (Project &Technical), NALCO in the national capital, the power producer said in a statement.

"NTPC signed a non-binding MoU with National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) to supply about 1,200 MW or more of round-the-clock uninterrupted power to cater to the requirement of NALCO for its expansion of smelter plant capacity in Angul, Odisha," the statement said.

The supply options would include coal-based thermal, solar, wind, energy storage or any combination of the same, it added.