Global power giants vie for mega projects

Leading global power majors are eyeing the country's ultra-mega projects (UMP). Leading the brigade are Hong Kong-based China Light and Power (CLP), US-based AES and Khanji, Japan's Sumitomo and the Singapore-based Globeq besides SNC Lavlin, GMH, TXU and Suez Energy.

Of the 22 companies and consortiums shortlisted for request for qualification (RFQ) to bid for two mega-power projects "" Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Mundra in Gujarat "" seven are global giants. The government completed the shortlisting process last week.

"The final bidding process is likely to be completed by October. Meanwhile, the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for these two projects have been floated and all clearances have been sought," said a banking source.

CLP and AES have been shortlisted for both the Sasan pit-head project and Mundra imported coal-based project while Sumitomo has been shortlisted for Mundra alone.

The Khanji-GMH-TXU consortium has also been shortlisted for Mundra. CLP has a tie-up with the Bangalore-based GMR group for the Sasan project and is going alone for the Mundra coastal power project.

GMR is not interested in imported coastal projects given the fuel security issues. The government has so far announced five UMPs of 4,000 mw each, scalable to 8,000 mw, in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

Two more are awaiting clearance at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Ib Valley in Orissa. Expressions of interest have been invited for other projects.

Indian companies shortlisted for the RFQs for both projects include Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Sterlite, Essar, L&T, EIC Energy Infrastructure, Lanco and Torrent.

Of these, Lanco has a tie-up with SNC Lavlin for Mundra and Globeq for Sasan, while Tata Power has tied up with Siemens and Doosan of South Korea for all the UMPs.

Torrent Power's wholly owned subsidiary, Ahmedabad Electricity Company, has been shortlisted for Mundra, while the parent company has been shortlisted for Sasan.