Damodar Valley Corporation has planned a capital expenditure of around Rs 2800 crore in 2023-24 under various heads including in capacity expansion projects.

The thermal power utility has surpassed its 2022-23 capex plan and spent Rs 2055 crore with a significant part of the investment going towards installation of FGD (flue-gas desulfurization) at its thermal power plants and augmenting its transmission and distribution capabilities as well as towards mining. The capex spend of the corporation used to be less than Rs 1000 crore before 2020-21.

“2022-23 was a successful year for DVC. We have achieved our highest ever generation in 75 year history at 43.32 billion units,” DVC chairman Ram Naresh Singh said on Thursday

“In FY24, the capex plan budget is around Rs 2800 crore. We are going for capacity addition in thermal power at Raghunathpur and Koderma. We are also expanding in solar and investing in transmission and distribution. We have started mining in the Tubed coal block in Jharkhand and we are also acquiring more land to expand coal mining,” he said.

DVC has chalked out a major expansion plan adding capacities across thermal, solar as well as pump storage projects in its command area. New thermal capacity includes 1320 MW at Raghunathpur and 1600 MW at Koderma and 800 MW at Durgapur with pump storage projects being planned at Lugu Pahar and Panchet hills. A joint venture of DVC and NTPC is also exploring floating solar projects of around 310 MW in Panchet and Tilaiya which are expected to be fully commissioned by 2025.

“DVC by 2030 would have a capacity of more than 15,000 MW on a conservative basis. Currently we have a capacity of around 6,700 MW including hydel and rooftop solar. The expansion plan includes a capacity of 3,720 MW of thermal brownfield units, 2,500 MW in pump storage projects and renewable projects of 3,434 MW,” Singh said.

The aggregate investment for capacity expansion across projects could be to the tune of around Rs 60,000 crore.