CLP India inks $288 mn ECB pact for Haryana power plant

CLP India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong's top power company CLP, has signed a $288 million ECB (External Commercial Borrowing) agreement for its Harya based power project with five of Asis's top banks.

The agreement was entered with Bank of Tokyo–Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., China Development Bank Corporation, Export-Import Bank of China, Hong Kong And Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. and Standard Chartered Bank for its 1,320 mega watt power project in Jhajjar, Haryana.

It is one of the first coal-fired power generation projects in India to be financed by a consortium of foreign banks, since the Dabhol power project. Installed with supercritical technology, the project will be the largest of its kind in CLP’s generation portfolio in Asia Pacific and one of India’s first supercritical power plants.
 
The total investment in Jhajjar project – including the financing of the first phase project – is close to $ 1.3 billion.
 
This deal has also been recognized as the ‘Indian Deal of the Year’ at the Project Finance International’s Annual Awards 2010 – PFI is the leading source of global project finance intelligence.  PFI termed this deal as the ‘curse-breaker’ – for more than a decade since the 1990s, international lenders have avoided investing in the power sector of India due to the payment default history experienced then by lenders to the Dabhol power plant.
 
Rajiv Mishra, Managing Director, CLP India said “We were the first foreign company to win a power generation project in India through international competitive bids in July 2008.  The international financial community’s confidence in us and, in this project specifically, is indeed heartening.  This is a landmark deal for us, as it makes us the first power generation company in India with project financed by a foreign lender in a long time.  Our consistent performance and satisfactory progress on this project is one of the factors that aided this deal.”
 
In line with CLP's Climate Vision 2050, which targets reduction in carbon intensity by 75% across its operations in Asia-Pacific by 2050, the Jhajjar power plant will be equipped with highly efficient supercritical technology that will significantly lower carbon emissions.
 
The first unit is scheduled to be commissioned by December 2011 and, the second unit by May 2012. Once completed, the project is expected to significantly improve the power situation in Haryana, with 90% of the electricity output dedicated to Haryana state and the remaining 10% to Delhi.
 
CLP India has committed an investment of approximately Rs 97 billion in the country across its portfolio. CLP India is also the largest foreign investor in the wind power sector with a combined capacity of 485.6 MW - also making it the largest wind energy developer in India.