The lignite is used at pithead thermal power stations of 3640 MW installed capacity to produce electricity.

Lignite deposit was found by chance when some 'brown substance' gushed out with water in T. M. Jambulingam Mudaliar's 620 acre own farm artesian well during 1934.

NLC operates four opencast lignite mines of a total capacity of 30.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) at Neyveli and Barsingsar; six lignite based pithead thermal power stations with an aggregate capacity of 3640 MW – at Neyveli and Barsingsar; and a 1000 MW coal based thermal power Station at Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu through its subsidiary, NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL), a joint venture between NLC and TANGEDCO (equity participation in the ratio of 89:11).

NLC recently commissioned a 1x500 MW unit at Neyveli which is also Asia's largest lignite fired boiler.

The business portfolio of the company is as under: NLC India has five pithead thermal power stations with an aggregate capacity of 4240 MW.

Given the high grid demand in this region, this power station is being operated after conducting the Residual Life Assessment (RLA) study.

The power generated from this station, after meeting the internal requirements, is shared by the Southern States viz., Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Union Territory of Puducherry.

The power generated from this station after meeting internal requirements is shared by the DISCOMS of the state of Rajasthan.

The steam generators of this project employ eco-friendly circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC) technology.

Consequent to re-tendering of Steam Generator package, the units are rescheduled to be commissioned in October 2017 and April 2018.

LOA has also been issued for the Balance of Plant Package and the engineering & civil works, supplies and erection are in progress.

In order to meet the additional requirement of lignite arising out of implementation of 1000 MW Neyveli New Thermal Power Project at Neyveli, expansion of Mine-IA is being implemented, which would result in raising the Mine IA capacity by 4 MTPA.

NLC is implementing wind power farm of capacity 51 MW at Kazhuneerkulam in Tamil Nadu at an estimated cost of ₹ 347.14 crores.

It is proposed to set up a coal based thermal power project with an overall capacity of 3960MW, in two phases, at Sirkazhi in the coastal district of Nagapattinam, in Tamil Nadu Advance Action Proposal at a cost of ₹ 56.52 crores for taking up pre-project activities is in progress.

The Government has allotted Talabira-II and III coal blocks in Odisha to power NLC which is looking to ramp up coal-based electricity generation capacity.

NLC is expediting to set up a pit head coal based power project in Odisha with the capacity of 3,200 MW.

The power plant will entail an estimated investment of ₹ 17,000 crores, and is to be built at Tareikela near Jharsuguda in the western part of Odisha.

This power plant would be linked to Talabira II & III coal block in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda district which has a mineable reserve of 553.98 Million Metric Tones.

The testing and R&D facilities were upgraded under a project (LERI) sponsored by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna during 1995–2000.

The main objective was to strengthen CARD to improve its capability to provide analytical, environmental monitoring, R&D, technology and services to industry and the Government.

Under this project, services of national and international experts were utilised for lignite utilisation and opencast mines, power stations related problems and acquired sophisticated equipment, training and established combustion and gasification testing facilities.

The major functions of CARD are carrying out science & technology projects (Ministry of Coal), in-house S&T plan projects, pollution level measurements, quality control testing & consultancy services, pilot plant studies based on R&D and commercialization of technology developed, coordination of S&T projects taken by other NLC units, institutional services for students, special studies for operation and new schemes.

Corrosion studies have been conducted in SME structures of mines to develop suitable coating material.

Corrosion studies are also being conducted in SWC pumps to prevent erosion-corrosion due to adverse conditions in mining environment.

CARD facilities are available for internal use and utilized by other agencies like SAIL, BHEL, MECL, GSI, and STCMS.