Tata Power to expand its overseas coal mines

The Tata Group utility Tata Power Company today said it is looking at expanding its coal mines abroad, and may raise some funds in the next fiscal to finance its projects under the pipeline.

"We are looking for expansion (of mines) whether it is in Indonesia or in Australia. Now the valuation of the operating mines are going on. But we are still interested in expansion," Tata Power Managing Director Prasad Menon told reporters here.

The company may look at fund-raising in the next fiscal, he said. "We don't need any funding as of now. But we have 6,000 Mw projects in the planning stage. When they come up, we may need funds and we will come up with plans at the appropriate time. We will get the necessary approvals for fund-raising in this fiscal," Menon said.

The company plans to take its total generating capacity to 25,000 Mw by 2017. Out of that, 16,000-17,000 Mw would be coal-based and 2,500 Mw would be gas-based, while around 2,000 Mw will be hydel and the rest will be a combination of wind and solar, Menon said.

The 4,000 Mw Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project is progressing as schedule with the engineering, procurement and construction activities going on in full swing, Menon said, adding overall progress achieved is 52 per cent and the first unit is expected to be commissioned by September 2011.

The 1,050 Mw Maithon Power is also progressing well and has achieved an 82 per cent completion and the first unit will be commissioned by October 2011, Menon said.

The company will add 750 Mw to its total generation capacity this year, another top company official said. "We will add almost 750 Mw this year to our generation capacity through capacity additions and commissioning of new plants," Tata Power Executive Director S Padmanabhan, said.