Faced with continued ‘paralysis' on the power policy front and red tapism in projects clearances, Tata Power has drawn up major investment plans to set up projects in Africa, Turkey, the Middle East, SAARC and Southeast Asian countries.
Talking to this correspondent, Tata Power Managing Director Anil Sardana said the company could not wait endlessly for the government to sort out the mess in the power sector and resolve the contentious issues that had been hanging fire for long time. “We will go to countries and destinations that offer fast clearances and have a clear-cut policy on present and future of power projects and raw material. These days, land acquisition and other clearances are challenges faced everywhere. But, we find of late, it is difficult for Tata's to get that in some of the geographies, particularly India and similar geographies,” he said.
Not wanting to reveal the projects that had been identified so far, Mr. Sardana said the company had already short-listed some projects in Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and Southeast Asian economies and whenever the deal was closed, a formal announcement would be made.
Mr. Sardana said at present, Tata Power had an installed capacity of over 3,790 MW and expected to have a capacity of 25,000 MW by 2017. “However, our aim is to become a 10,000 MW plus company in the next two years. After this, we will need investments and raw material back-up for another 15,000 MW of projects and this would be done accordingly. We have also taken a conscious decision that 25 per cent of our total energy portfolio will consist of non-greenhouse gas projects. So, we are now looking at bio-mass and hydro power in a big way,” he said.
Mr. Sardana said that apart from power generation, the company would be looking at transmission and distribution network projects in these countries to fuel its growth. “Countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the SAARC structure and African countries are important for us. We are also quite bullish on putting up assets in Turkey and the Middle East as part of new geography,” he said.
About the company's entry into hydro power, he said the company had recently bagged a 236 MW Dugar project in Himachal Pradesh. Similarly, it is executing two other hydro projects in Sikkim and Bhutan. In addition, another hydro power project is being undertaken in Zambia. For the raw material part, the company has stakes in two Indonesian coal mines and it, along with Norway's SN Power, is developing an 880 MW hydro project in Nepal.
Mr. Sardana said at present, Tata Power was executing thermal and renewable projects having a total capacity of about 5,351 MW.
