Welspun to invest Rs 1,300 cr to set up solar power projects in Punjab

Company has signed agreement with the state govt for supplying 35MW of power

Welspun Energy Ltd, part of the Mumbai-based $3.5 billion Welspun Group, said it would invest close to Rs 1,300 crore in setting up 150 Megawatt (Mw) solar power project in Punjab. The company signed an initial agreement with the state government last month.

The move is part of the company’s plan to ramp up its renewable energy generation portfolio to 1,750 Mw by 2017.

“A Power Purchase agreement was signed with the Punjab government for supplying 35 Mw of the capacity on December 31,” Welspun Energy’s Managing Director Vineet Mittal told Business Standard.

The 150 Mw project would be commissioned in 2017 and relieve Punjab of erratic power supply and high power tariffs, the company said in a statement. The Photovoltaic project will supply power to 7 lakh families and help mitigate 2.4 million tonne of carbon emissions annually.

Mittal said the company would meet the funding requirement through internal accruals as its projects being planned across states get commissioned. “By this calendar year end, we will have 400 Mw of solar power capacity,” he said.

Punjab has an installed solar capacity of around 9 Mw. The state awarded solar projects of 250 Mw capacity to 26 private companies in 2013.