Beta Wind Farm to invest Rs 1,857 cr in TN, Gujarat, Andhra

Beta had earlier planned to set up the proposed farms in Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Theni

Beta Wind Farm Pvt Ltd is planning to invest Rs 1,857 crore to set up a wind energy farm each in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, according to the subsidiary of Orient Green Power Company Ltd, owned by the Shriram Group.

Beta was earlier planning to set up the proposed farms with the same total capital in Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Theni , but it later decided to split the 300-megawatt endeavour and go for two more states, stating certain bottlenecks in Tamil Nadu.

Orient Green Power, in a communication to the shareholders, said “evacuation and infrastructure issues” in Tamil Nadu had prompted Beta to revisit the plan. It has now “decided to set up wind farms with a generation capacity of 156 Mw in Tamil Nadu and 144 Mw in the states of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, where also the returns are expected to be equally attractive in terms of power generation”.

A consortium of 10 banks, led by Axis Bank, has sanctioned Rs 1,236 crore as a rupee term loan to Beta, which is engaged in generation, accumulation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity, besides setting up of and/or maintenance of wind energy farms. The others banks include Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Karnataka Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Vijaya Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

For the loan, Orient Green Power had issued a corporate guarantee for the project to Axis Bank, on behalf of Beta. Besides, Gamma Green Power Pvt Ltd, another Orient Green Power subsidiary engaged in the business of setting up of wind mills and wind farms, is planning to purchase two WEGs at Gujarat, aggregating 4-MW assets. Towards refinance for assets of 3.98 Mw, it has a raised term loan from Bajaj Finance Ltd and Orient Green Power issued a corporate guarantee for Rs 23 crore in favour of Bajaj Finance.

With this acquisition, total capacity of Gamma would increase to 62.02 Mw.

Orient Green Power Company Ltd is promoted by Shriram EPC, a Shriram Group company, with investments from Bessemer Venture Partners of US and Olympus Capital Holdings, Singapore, for the creation and ownership of renewable energy assets. The company is one of the largest independent operators and developers; its portfolio includes biomass, biogas, wind energy and small hydroelectric projects at various stages of development.

As of September 2011, the company had 300 Mw of aggregate installed capacity. This comprised 250 Mw of wind energy projects and 50 Mw of biomass projects. The company has set a target to become the country’s largest renewable energy producer and other attractive markets, reaching 1,000 Mw by 2013.