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w Delhi: Energy-strapped India will get a capacity addition of nearly 12,000 MWs in the next three years after 10 power projects built by private players begin their operations, Power Minister P M Sayeed has said. Today in Sify Finance

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After reviewing a meeting of the Inter-Institutional Group (IIG) comprising senior officials from the power ministry and representatives of financial institutions, the Minister said the group has been instrumental in facilitating financial closure of 13 private power projects having a total capacity of over 4,477 MWs. According to the group the following projects will be commissioned. The 1,015 MW Mangalore Thermal Power Project (TPP) in Karnataka will be commissioned by September, 2008, where equity tie-up is the main outstanding issue. The Pathadi TPP situated in Chhattisgarh (Ph-II) of 300 MWs will be commissioned by February, 2009. One major issue that is critical for expediting the progress of the project and to achieve financial closure is allocation of coal linkages. The 1,000 MWs Karcham Wangtoo Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Himachal will be commissioned by December, 2011. Equity tie-up is the main outstanding issue. PPA and transmission scheme are also to be finalised. The huge Reliance-led Dadri gas-based 3,500 MW project in Uttar Pradesh will be completed in 2008-09. A major issue that is critical to the progress of the project and to achieve financial closure is tie-up for supply of gas.

The coal based 1000MW TPP at Vile, Maharashtra, is to be completed by 2009-10. The EPC Bid on ICB Route is the major issue crucial to the project to achieve financial closure. The gas-based GPEC-II 1,050 MW power plant in Gujarat is to be completed in October, 2007. EPC, PPA and FSA are the major pending issues. Gujarat Hazira CCPP (Gas) 1,500 MWs Module-I will be done by December 31, 2007 and Module-II by December 31, 2008. PPA, fuel supply agreement and evacuation of power are the main outstanding issues. For the 500 MW Vizag Thermal Power Project near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to be completed by December, 2007, the one major issue critical for expediting the progress of the project and to achieve financial closure is finalisation of PPA with PTC. The 1000 MW Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu will be completed in September, 2008. Its two major outstanding issues are finalisation of PPA, and equity tie-up. The 567 MW Rosa Power Project near Singrauli in UP, which will be commissioned by December 7, 2008, has to sort out sourcing of coal. In the long run, the Minister said, in the country's private sector the total capacity addition will be about 15,000 MWs. There are at least 25 power projects which have a cumulative power production worth Rs 60,000 crore. ''Most of them are on the verge of financial closure,'' Power Minister P M Sayeed told UNI. Brushing aside any shortcoming in the private sector's contribution to the country, Sayeed said, ''For viable projects finance is not a problem''. Electric power continues to remain one of the major concerns with a vast demand-supply gap, especially in rural India which lacks access to electricity. The current Tenth Plan is expected to accrue much larger investment from both the public and private sectors in generation, transmission and distribution. However the June, 2005 quarter showed mixed performance by the power companies, big firms like Reliance and Tata Power posting less than expectations. However NTPC has been an exception in performance. The power equipment manufactures witnessed growth due to increase in demand mainly from the power industry. Companies, especially in the power equipment and EPC contracts business, would continue to surge on account of increasing demand from the power industries. These include ABB, KEC International and Kalpataru Power -- which saw the topline surge by more than 25 per cent. While the topline for generation and distribution companies like REL and TPC remained flat. Another key feature that has emerged recently is the inter-state trading of electricity regulated by the CERC with a clutch of private players like Reliance Energy, Tata Power Trading Company, Global Energy Ltd, GMR Energy, Lanco Group, etc. in the fray. The progress in this sector is yet to pick up with trades in power amounting to just 2.5 per cent of country’s existing power consumption. The market is still in its nascent stage but with a huge potential. For the quarter ended June 30, 2005 incomes and exceptional items boosted bottomline growth especially for companies like TPC, REL and PTC, which would otherwise have dragged down profitability. | Read more Finance news. | Neyveli Lignite and Kalpataru Power recorded a huge surge of more than 100 per cent in their bottomlines. Growth for Neyveli Lignite was mainly due to increase in revenues and a huge

margin expansion. Revenues from lignite mining segment increased by 23 per cent year-on-year while the power generation segment increased by 28 per cent. For Kalpataru Power the revenues increased by 36 per cent due to increase in transmission line contracting and margin expansion. ABB's order inflow increased 43 per cent to Rs 937.9 crore. This enabled it to strengthen its position in the power transmission and distribution sector. Kalpataru's total order booking was in excess of Rs 1,700 crore, which includes further turnkey jobs in Africa and South East Asia, where the company is well placed, besides domestic jobs for transmission and distribution projects. KEC had a healthy order book position of Rs 2,400 crore and is engaged in executing orders in countries like UAE, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Zambia and Ethiopia. The generation companies would see a substantial increase in the capacity. This is mainly due to the fact that tariffs are regulated and only increase in higher unit sales will bring about growth in revenues. Reliance Energy Limited (REL) received clearance for its 7,480 MW project at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. The project, which is expected to be commissioned in phases, would be the world's largest gas-based power project. The company will also develop the ultra-mega 12,000 MW coal-based power generation project, in phases, in Orissa, at an estimated investment of Rs 48,000 crore ($11 billion). This would, by far, be the world's largest pithead coal based power plant at a single location. Tata Power is soon expected to expand its presence across the entire spectrum from power generation to transmission and distribution. These include the 120 MW expansion at Jojobera, the 330 MW greenfield hydro power project in Uttaranchal, and the 1,200 km transmission network from Bhutan to Delhi. Neyveli Lignite has initiated expansion in the following areas -- Mine-II Expansion (4.5 MTPA); the expansion of Mine-II from 10.5 MTPA to 15 MTPA of lignite; Barsingsar Mine Project (2.10 MTPA). NLC's lignite mining capacity would be increased from the present level of 24 million tonnes to 30.6 million tonnes and power generating capacity from 2,490 MW to 3,240 MW by 2009-10.