Vedanta group’s Sterlite Energy plans to commission the first phase of its Rs 8,200-crore Jharsuguda power plant in Orissa within three months. The entire project, which is currently undergoing trial runs for the first unit, is expected to be fully commissioned in the third quarter of the financial year 2010-11.
The company’s second project, which is coming up at Talwandi in Punjab, will be commissioned in phases between 2013 and 2014, according to sources in the know.
Of the aggregate Rs 17,520 crore cost, Sterlite has already spent Rs 4,958 crore on construction of both the projects. “As of October 6, 2009, we had spent Rs 4,106.30 crore on the development and construction of Jharsuguda project,” the company said in its recently filed draft red herring prospectus. The remaining Rs 851.40 crore has been spent on the 1,980-Megawatt (Mw) coal-based Talwandi project.
The coal-based commercial power plant at Jharsuguda will have a generation capacity of 2,400 Mw — comprising four units of 600 Mw each — upon completion in 2011. The company has received provisional coal linkage of 2.57 million tonne per annum (MTPA), which is sufficient for generating power from the first 600-Mw unit.
The total debt available for Jharsuguda project, including rupee and foreign currency debt, is approximately Rs 6,150 crore. A term loan facility of Rs 5,569 crore has been arranged from a consortium of lenders, including State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance Corporation of India and Bank of India.
The company has already drawn down the loan of Rs 1,206 crore as an interim disbursement. In addition, it had entered into a foreign currency facility agreement for a term loan of $140 million (over Rs 650 crore) from India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK) Ltd.
For the Rs 9,320-crore Talwandi project, the company has received provisional coal linkage from Rampia blocks in Orissa. It has completed formalities for the financial closure of the project. About 75 per cent of the project cost would be raised as debt, sources said. The company had also received an in-principle sanction letter on October 14, 2009 from State Bank of India for a rupee term loan of Rs 2,500 crore.
The Vedanta group, which has been building and managing captive power plants since 1997, owns captive and wind power capacity of 2,464 Mw.
