KIOCL to commission 1.3-MW solar unit soon: MD

KIOCL Ltd has installed a 1.3-megawatt (MW) solar power unit at its plant in Mangaluru. The plant will be commissioned next week.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, KIOCL Ltd Chairman and MD M V Subba Rao said that another 5-MW solar unit would be set up in Karnataka on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode; at an estimated cost of Rs 30 crore. The cost of the 1.3-MW unit was Rs 6 crore. It would be built on 5-acres of land. The land for the 5-MW unit is yet to be identified and is likely to be completed by April.

Stating that KIOCL Ltd plants at Panambur in Mangaluru require 30-MW power, he said that the remaining needs of the plants were met by the state grid. About 0.35-MW rooftop panels were commissioned at its blast furnace unit.

Further, Subba Rao said that the production capacity of the pellet plant at Panambur in Mangaluru was 3.5 million tonne per annum. At present, the production is 2.5 million tonne per annum. “In the next two years, the plant will record 100 % utilisation. KIOCL Ltd is also planning to take up modernisation on the blast furnace in its Mangaluru plant,” he explained.

KIOCL Ltd has reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 45.89 crore in the first six months of 2018-19 as against a PAT of Rs 8.51 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The profit before tax was Rs 59.12 crore against Rs 10.44 crore during the corresponding period last year.

He termed it the highest half-yearly profit achievement in the last five years. The total revenue generated for the first half year is Rs 875.42 crore.

He said that the pellet production for the first six months during the year was 9.24 lakh tonne. Entering into the European market in addition to Asian countries for the sale of pellets helped in getting highest realisation, he said.

Subba Rao said during 2017-18, the pellet production had reached 2.327 million tonne, an increase of 59% compared to the previous years while pellet sales which have touched 2.301 million tonne (an increase of 66 %). The profit before tax during 2017-18 was Rs 86.09 crore (an increase of 176 %) and profit after tax was Rs 81.48 crore, an increase of 70 %.

He said under CSR activities, KIOCL Ltd had utilised Rs 1.5 crore in the last three years. Smart classrooms with solar panels would be installed at government schools in Raichur at a cost of Rs 15 lakh, he added.