Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency for ultra mega power projects, has extended the last date for accepting bids for Krishnapatnam project to October 24, sources said. Essar Power, Sterlite Industries, Larsen and Toubro, D S Construction, Japan's Sumitomo Corp and CLP-GMR combine are other companies believed to be in the qualified bidders list.
Reliance Power Limited, the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), plans to invest about Rs 2,500-3,000 crore (Rs 25-30 billion) over a period of three years, to develop three coal mines to fuel its Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in Madhya Pradesh. Reliance Power currently has access to coal reserves of about one billion tonnes in India and abroad, including a coal mine in Indonesia, which it acquired recently.
Japanese power companies, including Tokyo Electric Power Company and J-Power, seek to make their presence felt in India.
Indiabulls Power, which is developing over 6,650 Mw from five thermal power projects by 2013, is planning to also bid for ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), besides foraying into renewable energy to grow as a major electricity producer. The company will bid for some of the coming UMPPs, after evaluating dedicated availability of coal and the market conditions, said Ranjit Gupta, chief executive officer, and Murali Subramanian, chief operating officer.
The company emerged successful in the revised evaluated bids for the project.
Four companies, including India's largest private sector electricity generator Tata Power and infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro Ltd, chose not to bid for the Rs 16,000-crore ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Tilaiya in Jharkhand even as Reliance Power, Lanco Infratech and NTPC Ltd, the country's largest power producer, submitted their technical bids.
Tata Power Company Ltd has signed a development agreement with Germany's Siemens Project Ventures GmbH to jointly bid for ultra mega power projects.
Tata Power, the country's largest private utility by sales, announced the acquisition of 30 per cent stake in two coal mining units and a related trading outfit of Indonesia's PT Bumi Resources for nearly Rs 4,740 crore ($1.1 billion).
Goyal's statement comes in the wake of RGPPL board giving its approval last month for the conversion of debt into equity equivalent to interest dues of Rs 405 crore (Rs 4.05 billion).
The idea is to set up renewable energy generation capacity, including both solar and wind, along with the associated evacuation infrastructure, at a mega scale in the four Indian deserts -- Thar in Rajasthan, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, Lahul & Spiti in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir.
Tata Power was one of the bidders for the 4,000-Mw Sasan UMPP in Madhya Pradesh, finally bagged by Reliance Power. Tata Power says the permission granted for diversion of coal from the Sasan project's captive mines was a substantial deviation from the bid conditions and affected the economics of the project. It approached the Delhi High Court challenging this diversion and sought re-tendering for the UMPP so that the bidders could factor in the benefits of this diversion.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-promoted Sasan Power was Rs 2,500 crore short of the roughly Rs 15,000 crore it needed to borrow for the project. Now, India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd has agreed to lend around Rs 2,500 crore. A consortium of 12 domestic banks have already committed around Rs 12,500 crore, with State Bank of India and Power Finance Corporation leading the pack, with Rs 3,500 crore and Rs 1,800 crore respectively.
The company had raised a similar amount of debt in FY 09 as well. Reliance Power has bagged three of four contracts for developing UMPPs in the country.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday took stock of the power ministry's ambitious plans to set up five ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each envisaging an investment of Rs 75,000 crore
Coal ministry says Sasan coal cannot be used for other plant.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd may be one of the biggest producers of natural gas in the country, but its power foray is likely to be coal or renewable energy based. The company is planning to not only bid for ultra mega power projects but also go in for acquisition of the power plants, said industry sources.
Tata Power Company, India's largest private power utility, has announced that it would not bid for imported coal-based Ultra Mega Power Projects in future, until the overall policy environment becomes favourable. The company plans to increase its installed power generation capacity to 8,000 Mw by 2012 and 12,000 Mw by 2014 from the current 2,700 Mw.
Tata Power Company, which is developing India's first 4,000 mw ultra mega power project in Mundra signed on Wednesday contracts reportedly worth $1 billion with Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Company.
Reliance Power (R-Power), the Reliance-ADAG group company, which plans to set up 28,000 mw of power plants in India, has secured $1 billion (or around Rs 4,200 crore) funding from three Chinese banks for the Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Madhya Pradesh.
Hearing the petition by Tata Power against a decision of the Empowered Group of Ministers to allow use of coal from the captive mines for Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project to other projects, the Court did not give a stay and fixed the next date for hearing on February 24.
In a scenario where we have power purchase agreements and the SEBs are in financial strife, we would always get supported, as our cost of generation is lower than most other plants.
But company says govt decision to permit use of incremental coal does not result in any loss to exchequer or undue benefit.
Flaying post-bid concessions to Reliance Power, the CAG on Friday said the Anil Ambani-led firm got undue benefit of Rs 29,033 crore (Rs 290.33 billion) when the government allowed use of surplus coal from blocks alloted to Sasan power plant for its other projects.
Energy-hungry India, which currently faces huge power deficit, will become an electricity surplus country in next four-five years, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Tata Power is evaluating opportunities to make another overseas acquisition of a coal mine. A senior company management executive said the company was planning to zero in on smaller mines. Prasad Menon, managing director, Tata Power, said: "We are evaluating various opportunities."
The World Bank will give a loan of $1 billion (about Rs 5,000 crore) to power transmission company PGCIL this year for developing infrastructure in the sector.
Electricity, a basic minimum service that any citizen or industry should get for its development, witnessed severe fluctuations in progress in 2009 in terms of capacity addition.
In the current financial year, TPC has planned capital expenditure of Rs 2,670 crore for their projects in Trombay, Haldia and in adding capacity to their wind power and digiset generating systems.
The government may revive a proposal limiting the number of Ultra Mega Power Projects awarded per developer.
UMPP is coal-based thermal power project that has 4,000 MW capacity.
Delhi Metro, Yamuna-expressway and Tata Power's Mundra ultra mega power project in Gujarat are among the six ventures that have figured in the list of world's most innovative, impactful infrastructure projects prepared by international accounting firm KPMG.
Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency for ultra mega power projects, has sought legal opinion on whether Lanco Infratech had violated the norms while bidding for the Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion) Sasan power project.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power (R-Power) has roped in international consultancy firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) to upgrade its Sasan ultra-mega power project (UMPP) in Madhya Pradesh to conform to the norms for receiving carbon credits.
After rejecting a request for financing the 4,000 MW ultra mega power project in Sasan, Madhya Pradesh, last Thursday, the Exim Bank reversed its decision on Monday after a conversation its chief Fred P Hochberg had with Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group chairman Anil Ambani.
Fiscal benefits available under Section 80-IA of the Income-Tax Act to power projects should be extended till 2015 instead of March 31, 2010, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry.
The power ministry is considering asking Reliance Energy to match the price offered by the Lanco Infratech-Globeleq consortium for power from the Sasan ultra mega power project.
Sasan Power Ltd, the special purpose vehicle floated by Power Finance Corporation for the 4,000 MW project, will on Wednesday issue the Letter of Intent to Reliance Power Ltd.
Bharat Heavy Electricals, the country's largest power equipment manufacturer, is working on low margins when bidding to supply super-critical equipment for the upcoming ultra mega power projects as it has to import a substantial amount of components from Europe.
Bid evaluation committee wants the combine's 'amicable extrication' from the project.