Green platform
Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries sees wind and solar energies as new business growth in India, following on the success of coal-fired power generating plant in Andhra Pradesh.
Sembcorp Green Infra is a growth platform will be part of the new growth engine and enhance product line, Sembcorp Industries CEO Tang Kin Fei says.
The Singapore conglomerate holds a majority 68.74 per cent stake in Sembcorp Green Infra which has wind and solar assets across seven Indian states.
The Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Madhya Pradesh government to set up a 1,000-MW wind energy plant in the state.
Sembcorp has built up now has US$4 billion of assets and employs around 900 staff in India.
Its biggest investment is 2,640-megawatt Sembcorp Gayatri Power Complex in Andhra Pradesh, which opened earlier this year.
Rated as the largest foreign direct investment-driven project on a single site in the thermal energy sector, the US$3 billion facility has two 1,320-MW supercritical coal-fired power plants.
“India is short of power. We were able to deliver the plants on time,” said Tang in an interview with The Straits Times on 1 Oct, 2016.
The second 1,320-MW plant should start up this year.
Sembcorp is bidding for a 500-MW long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Andhra Pradesh for supplying electricity to a new capital city, Amaravati, which is being built.
The deal, if done, will put three of the four units, each of 660-MW, under long-term agreements. fii-news.com