RPower's Tilaiya UMPP to get $1.5 bn Chinese funds

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power will get around $1.5 billion from Chinese lenders for its upcoming 3,960-MW Tilaiya ultra-mega power project in Jharkhand, a top company official has said.

"We have arrangements with Chinese lenders for about $12 billion funds. We will get about $1.5 billion for our Tilaiya UMPP," Reliance Power Chief Executive Officer J P Chalasani told PTI.

Apart from the Tilaiya project, the company is also developing the Sasan and Krishnapatnam UMPPs.

Reliance Power has tied up Chinese funds to the tune of $1.1 billion for the Sasan project.

Chalasani said the company has expanded its funding sources in recent times. "This is also helping us in bringing down overall costs," he noted.

The firm has arrangements in place with Chinese as well as US entities for as much as $17 billion in funding for various power projects.

The projects are being implemented through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), with a funding mix of debt and equity. The ratio of debt and equity for the projects varies from 70:30 to 80:20.

Reliance Power expects to have an installed capacity of 5,000 MW by December, 2012. Currently, the company has an installed generation capacity of 900 MW.