Gujarat
Power Project
India
is the sixth largest consumer of electricity in the world
accounting for 3.7% of the global energy consumption. Demand
for electricity in India has been growing steadily driven
by factors such as rapid economic growth and rural electrification
program. However, the supply of electricity has constantly
fallen behind, leading to acute power demand deficit in
India.
The
main challenges in meeting the demand for electricity have
been the government’s inability to meet capacity addition
targets, shortages of fuel such as coal, power losses in
transmission & distribution and the ageing/improperly
maintained infrastructure. In order to address the power
shortages in the country the government is focusing on renewable
sources of energy and has set an ambitious target of increasing
the current renewable energy consumption mix of just 1.6%
to 4-5% by 2012. Among the renewable energy sources, wind
energy shows the highest potential for capacity additions.
India
has long played an important role in the world’s wind
energy market and now ranks 5th in the world in terms of
installed wind power capacity. The main drivers for wind
energy in India have been the strong untapped potential
which is estimated to be around 48.5 GW, cost competitiveness
with cost per KWh of wind power now comparable to those
from conventional energy sources such as coal, favourable
government policies and incentives both at the centre and
the state level and the CDM benefits available as a part
of the Koyoto protocol. Among the states in India, Gujarat
shows one of the highest potential in terms of wind energy.
The Government of Gujarat (GoG)
has recognised this and has deployed various favourable
policies to boost the investment in this sector. In the
recently held “Vibrant Gujarat”
investor conference, the wind energy segment generated
substantial interest with top energy players entering into
a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government
for deployment of mega wind energy projects.
Metatron
Danke Green Energy Pvt Ltd (MDGEPL)
signed a MoU with the GoG for a 100 MW wind farm project.
It has identified two high potential sites near the
border of Gujarat and Rajasthan which posses the ideal
characteristics for wind farm development. The proposed
high potential project would deploy 67 wind turbine
generators and generate around 200 million units of
electricity every year. The electricity would be sold
to both state owned transmission players and to energy
traders in order to get attractive prices. The total
capital cost of the project is USD 115 million and
a 70:30 debt equity structure is proposed. The project
would generate attractive returns to investors with
an estimated equity IRR of 24% and equity payback
period of 6 years. |
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Further
the project is backed by a highly successful, influential
and visionary entrepreneur, the CEO of MDGEPL, who
has an impressive past track record in launching successful
ventures. The entrepreneur also has contacts with
key personnel within the central and state government
agencies, which are crucial for the successful execution
of the project. MDGEPL has already obtained an expression
of interest from Satluj Jal
Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), a state owned power company
which has a track record of setting up large hydro
projects in India and abroad, for a minority stake
in the project. SJVN would contribute significantly
to the project from its experience in setting up and
managing large power projects. |
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