Over 32,000 crore investment in Indian solar, thermal and hydro projects 

 

 

 

New Delhi: Hindustan Power Projects, bullish on domestic sector, plan to invest about Rs. 32,000 crore for setting up electricity generation capacity of more than 5,000 MW. Erstwhile Moser Baer Projects would be making the investments across solar, thermal and hydro projects in 3 years.

 

Hindustan Powerprojects Chairman Ratul Puri said the cumulative investment in the projects would be about Rs. 31,000–32,000 crore. ‘This (investment) would be for little over 5,000 MW generation capacity, may be 5,200 or 5,300 MW’, he told PTI in an interview.

 

Two thermal projects – in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh – with a total capacity of nearly 4,000 MW, are already in the works. The company aims to have 1,000 MW solar power capacity, he added.

 

Currently, the company has an operational capacity of about 350 MW and 77.5 MW of solar power and is expected to be commissioned by June. Of the total existing capacity, around 120 MW of solar assets are outside the country. These projects are in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.

 

Puri said the company has invested about Rs. 14,500 crore in 3 years. ‘Our asset base in 2010 was about Rs. 500 to 600 crore. Today the balance sheet size is around Rs. 14,500 crore’, he added.

 

The company has built a balanced portfolio across renewables, coal, coal mining and hydro, Mr. Puri said, adding, ‘We didn’t overstretch ourselves... We raised about Rs. 3,600 crore equity’.

 

He said, ‘It is important for businesses to see free cash. We have invested about Rs. 5,500 crore into solar (projects) and that is generating a significant amount of free cash flows’.

 

The domestic power sector has been facing challenging times of late, especially on account of fuel shortages and poor financial health of electricity distribution companies.

 

Love Kumar Gupta 

PGDM II Sem