Astonfield eyes BOO model for renewable energy

Malta and Geneva-based infrastructure management company, Astonfield Management Limited, was negotiating with global companies like Wartsila, Sun Edison, Veolia and Capstone for support to execute non-conventional energy sources using for biomass, solid waste, solar panels and biogas at sites in West Bengal and also to set up mobile telephony and Wi-Max towers in rural areas, all on the build-own-operate (BOO) business model.

It planned to execute projects as public-private-partnership (PPP) ventures, said Sourabh Sen, director of the company.

The company would set up a 5MW watt solar power plant in Bankura on 15 acres acquired for the purpose, with work to start by December.

It would build a 10MW biomass unit in North Dinajpur using rice husk and another 1MW biogas plant on the Kalyani Expressway using solid waste.

"The aim is to tie up upto 300 mega watt of energy in different locations in India in the next 12 months," said Sen.

The company was eyeing projects in Bihar, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat.

Astonfield would invest $500 million in its parallel business of setting up communication towers for telecom companies for rural telephony and Wi-Max services offering large-scale internet access.

West Bengal IT minister Debesh Das had asked the company to invest in infrastructure creation in North Bengal districts like North Dinajpur. "We are putting together a proposal," Sen said.

The company had set aside $300 million for airport modernisation projects at small Indian towns, like Amritsar and Udaipur airports, and also Malda in central Bengal.