Adani to invest Rs12,500-cr to build 2500 MW power plant in Odisha
25 Aug 2014
Billionaire Gautam Adani is increasing his stake in the country's power sector with plans to invest Rs12,500 crore ($2 billion) to build a 2500 MW power plant in Odisha, which would raise group capacity by a quarter.
The Adani Power, which recently purchased a 1200 MW thermal power plant in Karnataka from Lanco Infratech in a Rs6,000-crore ($327 million) deal earlier this month. (See: Adani buys Lanco's Udupi power plant in Rs6,000-crore deal) , is in an expansion spree as it hopes to cash about in on the supply shortage in the country where a third of the population still goes without power.
Gujarat-based Adani Group expects to ink a deal with the Odisha government in the next three-four months to set up a coal-based power plant in the state, a senior company official said today.
Adani Group, which has grown into a $9-billion conglomerate with interest in power, resources, ports and logistics and agriculture, has already identified three-four sites in Angul and Dhenkanal districts for the Odisha power project, reports quoted its chief operating officer (mining) for Odisha Rajesh Jha as saying.
Reports said the company is looking for a block of land of about 1,500 acres with possibilities of water and rail connectivity and a deal is likely to be finalised for one of the sites soon.
The power plant, to be built in phases, will source raw materials from the Machakata and Chendipada coal blocks it is developing in Angul district. The two coal blocks it is developing in Odisha will have a total capacity of 70 million tonnes per year.
The power project, to be developed in phases, will initially generate 1000 MW by 2017 and increase the capacity gradually to 2,500 MW by 2019.
"We expect to start coal mining in two years," Jha said, adding that the power plant would require 25 million tonnes of coal per year at full capacity.
The Adani Power, controlled by flagship Adani Enterprises, currently has 9,240 MW of installed capacity at its plants in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
It imports about 100 million tonnes of coal a year mainly from Indonesia to feed the plants.
