Spain's T-Solar, Astonfield in pact for setting up 200-Mw solar power projects in India

Spanish solar energy producer T-Solar has entered into the Indian solar sector by striking technical, operational and financial collaboration with Astonfield Renewable Resources to develop a solar power generation capacity of 200 Mw in four years.

Both the companies plan to invest $600 million into the venture which would see development of thin film photovoltaic (PV)-based solar projects in the country.

“The thin film PV would be imported from Spain and efforts will be made to minimise the cost without compromising on quality and efficiency,” Astonfield Co-chairman and Director Ameet Shah told Business Standard.

T-Solar Chief Executive Officer Juan Laso said T-Solar would continue to be involved in the operation and maintenance of the upcoming projects with Astonfield, which is developing 1,000 Mw of renewable projects in India.

At present, T-Solar has an installed generation capacity of 168 Mw in Spain and Italy, in addition to a large pipeline in southern Europe, Latin America and the US.

Out of the projected 200-Mw generation capacity, four projects of a total generation capacity of 32 Mw, comprising 5 Mw each at Osian, Rajasthan and Bankura, West Bengal, 10 Mw at Handikund, Karnataka, and the rest 11.5 Mw at Kutch, Gujarat, are under various stages of development. Both the companies plan to commission them by March 31, 2012.

All these projects would be developed on a 70:30 debt-equity ratio.

According to Shah, they have so far got the debt from State Bank of India (SBI) and Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank). “However, efforts would made to procure debt at attractive rates both from domestic and foreign lenders,” he added.

Laso said his company did not see any problem in mobilising necessary resources for completing the projects. With T-Solar’s strategic investment and project debt financing in place from leading Indian banking institutions such as SBI and Exim Bank, Shah said the site construction was well under way and the project was set for commissioning on time.

The ongoing projects of 32 Mw were bagged as per the respective state government policies and the per unit tariff would be on the basis of the rates cleared by regulators in those states, Shah said. “The photovoltaic modules being produced and supplied by T-Solar will be such that it will reduce the per-megawatt cost and thereby the per-unit tariff. Further, Astonfield and T Solar would also participate in the projects to be put under the bidding process in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and few other states. “The idea is to develop an installed capacity of 200 Mw in the next four years with a total investment of $600 million,” he added.