Himachal projects interest RIL, Essar

Reliance and Essar Group, two of the leading business conglomerates in the country, are planning to invest heavily in power projects in Himachal Pradesh (HP).

The state government has already invited offers from independent power producers for implementation of hydroelectric projects in the private sector on build, own, operate and maintain basis. The bids submitted by various companies are under scrutiny.

"We are in talks with Reliance and Essar Group for setting up power projects in our state. Both have shown keen interest in these projects. We have vast potential in power sector, both in conventional sector, such as hydel power generation and in the non-conventional sector such as wind power generation and solar power generation," said Virbhadra Singh, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh to Business Standard on Monday.

However, he did not divulge the planned investments by these two companies.

Himachal Pradesh has identified a potential of 21,000 mw of hydel power generation capacity, out of which only 6,000 mw have been harnessed so far by various agencies, which also includes 326 mw by Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB).

In addition, the state along with the central government has identified some power projects which has been entrusted for execution by the private sector as well as jointly with the adjoining states.

"We have, in addition, a number of such projects both micro as well as large, identified for exploitation, which are available for private sector. These are also planned to be entrusted for execution by the private sector on selective basis," said Kuldip Kumar, industries minister, Himachal Pradesh.