Alstom Power was all charged up in morning trades on Tuesday as the company bagged a turnkey contract for a high-profile private sector hydro-electricty project in Uttaranchal.

The news led to the scrip of the electrical equipment maker rising 0.88% to Rs 57.85 by 11:30 IST. A total of 16,963 Alstom Power shares were registered as volumes on BSE by then.

The scrip has managed an upbeat run of late, rising 13.2% to Rs 56.60 from Rs 50 in the seven sessions between 30 January and 10 February 2003.

Alstom Power today said that it has bagged a Euro 50 million (Rs 250 crore) turnkey contract from Jaiprakash Power Ventures India for the supply of major hydro-generating plant equipment for the 400 MW Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric project. The turnkey contract covers the supply and supervision of erection of turbines, governing systems, spherical valves, butterfly valves, generators, static excitation system, bus ducts, computerised power plant control and monitoring systems and 400 kv GIS and cables.

The project is being built by JVPL on build-own-operate basis and is one of the few large IPPs being set up in India in the hydro sector. The civil works for the project are already in an advanced stage.

The project will be managed by Alstom's Hydro Power Segment in France, equipment and components being supplied from the company's manufacturing facilities in Grenoble and Belfort, France, and also from India. The project is scheduled for commissioning in December 2006.

Vishnuprayag Hydro Power Project is a run-off-the-river project with an estimated cost of Rs 1,900 crore (Euro 380 million). It has all the statutory approvals in place. The escrow agreement as well as the financing agreements have already been signed by the promoter. The project, designed to produce over two billion units of power, is expected to mitigate the power shortage in North India when commissioned.

Meanwhile, in consonance with the entire power and related sector, the scrip of Alstom Power has been moving up of late on the reckoning that the forthcoming Electricity Bill will set off far-reaching reforms in the power sector. The rise also comes on talk that the government will provide sops for the utilities sectors in the Union Budget for 2003-04.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, Alstom Power posted a massive rise of 410% in net profit to Rs 7.60 crore on a 29.6% fall in total income to Rs 92.75 crore.