Tata Power plans Rs29,300-crore spend to up capacity

Tata Power Co Ltd has drawn up a Rs29,300-crore capital expenditure plan over the next three years to augment capacity. Of this, Rs9,800 crore would come from internal accruals while the company would raise about Rs18,000 crore debt, said its chairman Ratan Tata, addressing shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai on Thursday.

In July, Tata Power raised $335 million from sale of global depositary receipts. Tata told shareholders the company had 10,000 MW of projects in the pipeline, but did not specify a timeframe for implementation.

Tata Power currently has an installed generating capacity of 2,785 MW. It is building a 4,000 MW facility at Mundra in Gujarat and a 1,050 MW project at Maithon in Jharkhand.

Tata also said the company would like to enter nuclear power generation, which is now not open for private firms. "We would like to play a role when it is permissible by the government," he said. State-owned Nuclear Power Corp is currently the only operator of nuclear power plants in the country.

The company would also make moderate investments in solar, wind and geothermal power projects, Tata said.

Tata also said that more and more consumers were evincing interest in switching over to Tata Power for their electricity. "Till the end of July, over 30,000 consumers have expressed an interest for a change-over to Tata Power for electricity supply, and this trend will significantly rise over the months."

The private sector utility supplies power to around 28,500 consumers, including individual and bulk industrial consumers like airports and state installations.

On the power situation in Maharashtra, Tata said that there would be shortages, but the company would take steps to ensure that Mumbai did not fall short of power.