CLP India, the Indian arm of Hong Kong-based power major China Light and Power (CLP) Group, is investing over Rs 12,000 crore in two new power projects and in wind energy.
The company, which today raised Rs 3,900 crore from a consortium of 15 banks to fund a 1,320 Mw coal-fired project in Jhajjar, Haryana, is also planning a 1,060 Mw gas-based power project near its existing facility at Paguthan, Gujarat. This latter project will cost Rs 4,000 crore. Further, CLP India is setting up close to 450 Mw of wind power capacity in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka with Rs 2,500 crore of investments, said Rajiv Mishra, managing director. “We are in discussions with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for gas supplies from the KG-D6 basin and also talking to other gas suppliers to ensure fuel linkage for the second phase of Paguthan. We hope to start construction during this year,” he said.
The project has already got environmental clearance and has adequate land at the existing facility to set up the second phase, he said.
CLP currently has annual revenues of Rs 1,300 crore. It entered the Indian power market in 2002 by acquiring a majority stake in Gujarat Paguthan Energy Corporation (GPEC), which runs a 655 Mw gas-fired power project at Paguthan.
Mishra said CLP India was also looking at entering into power transmission and distribution projects and has been listed for two transmission projects in Rajasthan.
The Jhajjar project, awarded to the company in July last year through international competitive bidding, will entail a total investment of Rs 5,500 crore. A consortium of 15 banks led by Industrial Development Bank of India(IDBI) has agreed to lend Rs 3,900 crore and CLP India will raise the rest of the funds as its equity.
“We have adequate support from the parent group, which has high cash reserves. If required, we will opt for other fund raising options such as approaching capital markets in future,” said Mishra.
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The 2x660 Mw Jhajjar project will be the largest of its kind in CLP’s generation portfolio in the Asia Pacific and one of India’s first supercritical power plants. Its first unit is scheduled to be commissioned by December 2011 and the second one by May 2012.
Orders for boilers, turbines and generators have been placed with Sepco of China and an engineering, procurement and construction order placed with Shangdong Tiejun Electric Power Company, also of China. The project has committed 90 per cent of its electricity output to Haryana, said Mishra.