Hydropower firms go in for diversification

With the hydropower sector taking a beating due to heightened environmental and religious concerns in India, several companies have now chalked out plans to diversify.

THDC India Ltd (THDCIL) recently ventured into thermal power business by signing an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government to set up the 1320 Mw Khurja super thermal power plant in Bulandshahar area. This will be the THDCIL’s maiden foray into thermal power business.

The Rishikesh-based company, a joint venture between the centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, recently decided that it would enter into other power businesses besides it core business of hydropower.

Himachal Pradesh-based SJVNL, with an installed capacity of 1500 Mw, also expressed its desire to venture into solar and other non-convention energy sectors besides transmission.

And now, it is the turn of Dehradun-based UJVN to diversify into gas-based power business and enter other sectors of conventional and non-conventional sources of energy.

After changing its name from Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) to UJVN at its recent board meeting, the state-owned Dehradun-based company had decided to set up two gas-based power projects with an investment of Rs 1250 crore with a total capacity of 700 Mw.

“We are setting up setting up two gas-based power projects one each of 350 Mw capacity in Haridwar and Kashpur towns,” said UJVN Managing Director G P Patel.

Patel said the company, with a running capacity of 1352 Mw, is also open to diversify into other sectors of energy business.

“We are starting with gas-based projects. But later, we would like to set up projects in other sectors like coal and solar,” he said. Patel conceded the fact that the company was finding it tough to operate in the hydropower business.

Significantly, the moves by these companies came after the centre last year scrapped a series of hydropower sectors in Uttarakhand on environmental and religious grounds after an indefinite hunger strike by G D Agrawal, a former IIT Kanpur professor.