Cethar Vessels, a power equipment manufacturer, is entering into power production by setting up a thermal-based power plant and a solar farm in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to Business Standard, K Subburaj, chairman of Cethar Vessels, said, “the power equipment business can grow to some extent only. We always wanted to do something for consumer, and power is the right bet for us.”
The Trichy-based company would invest around Rs 5,000 crore for setting up the thermal plant, which will have a capacity of 1,010-Mega watt (Mw). “We are yet to decide whether the plant will be set up by Cethar Energy or a new company”.
The solar farm of 12 Mw would come up in Pudukottai district with an investment of around Rs 180 crore.
Besides, the company is planning a facility to manufacture turbines for thermal power plants in Tiruchy with an outlay of Rs 1,200 crore. The proposed plant will be set up over the next three years in phases with a total capacity of 4000 Mw.
“We are looking for a private equity, which can invest around Rs 400 crore into the company,” he said.
In March, Cethar had signed a memorandum of understanding with OJSC Power Machines of Russia to manufacture turbines for thermal power plants in India. The two companies would form a joint venture here and OJSC will own the majority stake in the JV, said Subburaj.
The company would invest another Rs 200 crore to expand the production capacity for boilers, to 12,000 Mw from the current 8,000 Mw. This is expected to be completed by December 2011.
Currently, the company has an orderbook of Rs 5,500 crore and expects to close the current financial year with a backlog of Rs 8,000 crore.
Cethar Vessels recently secured ‘supercritical technology' (boilers that operate at higher temperatures and pressures and are hence more efficient) from Siemens through the former's long-time technology partner, US-based Riley Power.
