Lanco to invest Rs 18,000 cr for hydro power

Lanco Group has outlined an investment of about Rs 18,000 crore by 2015 to set up hydro power stations of 3,000 MW capacity one-fifth of the total capacity it seeks to achieve by then.

The group is already implementing five hydro projects of 742 MW capacity at various parts of the country including the 500 MW Teesta VI HydroPower project in Sikkim.

"Of the 15,000 MW which we plan to execute by 2015, about 3,000 MW is expected to be accounted by hydel power. We will invest about Rs 18,000 crore on hydro power initiative," Lanco Energy Manager (Contracts) Shailendra Mohan told reporters here.

Lanco Energy is a subsidiary of Lanco Infratech, the group's flagship company, engaged in power, infrastructure, construction and property development.

At present, Lanco Infratech has the capacity to generate 518 MW electricity and is developing projects having 7,500 MW capacity. The company has also identified projects of about 7,000 MW, as part of its vision to have installed capacity of 15,000 MW by 2015.

Lanco is implementing two hydle projects of 10 MW each and one 70 MW project at Himachal Pradesh, besides constructing two projects of 152 MW at Rambara and Phata-Byung in Uttarakhand.

The group's first unit of hydro power would come later this year from one of its project in Uttarakhand. Of the 518 MW capacity at present, 488 MW is accounted by gas-fired projects, 13 MW by wind projects and 17 MW comes from biomass.

Mohan said financing for the Teesta VI Hydropower Project has been tied up with a consortium of eight lenders lead by ICICI Bank. Other lenders include Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank.

The project, expected to cost Rs 3,000 crore, would be commissioned by 2012.

Teesta VI would sell the power to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company through a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement.

The statutory clearances required from the state and Central Agencies have been obtained and civil construction work has started, he said.

The bids for engineering, construction, and procurement contracts would be invited by the group by mid of this year.