R-Power bags four hydel projects

Projects worth over Rs 18,000 cr

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power (R-Power) has bagged four hydroelectric power projects of 2,520- Mw capacity worth over Rs 18,000 crore from the Arunachal Pradesh government through a competitive bidding process.

With this, the company is set to become the second-largest hydropower project developer in India with 4,620 Mw of hydro projects under its belt, said a company official.

State-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is the largest hydropower generator in the country with 5,177 Mw of installed capacity and another 6,000 Mw of projects in the pipeline.

The bidding parameters for these projects were the amount of free power that the developer would offer to the state as well as the upfront premium it was willing to pay.

Bidders in the fray for the four projects of 1,200 Mw Kalai-II, 500 Mw Emni, 420 Mw Amulin and 400 Mw Mihudon included players such as Jaiprakash Hydro Power, L&T and Athena Energy, said sources.

“We have bagged four new hydro projects for generating 2,520 Mw and will implement all these projects during the 12th Plan period from 2012 to 2017. These are Run-off-River (RoR) projects which can take off within 6-7 years and construction expenses will be less when compared with reservoir-type hydro projects,” said a Reliance Power spokesperson.

In RoR projects, there is no need for storing the water in dams, which are very expensive to construct. While the Kalai-II project is in Lohit River, rest of the three projects are in River Mithun.

R-Power is currently implementing three hydro projects worth 2,100 Mw – 1,000 Mw Siyom and 700 Mw Tato-II in Arunachal Pradesh and another 400 Mw Urting Sobla in Uttranachal.

R-Power is also in talks with Canada-based Hydro-Queubec, one of the largest hydro power specialists in the world, to explore joint venture and technical support opportunities for its mega hydro power foray, said sources.

Private power producers such as Jaiprakash Hydro-Power Ltd (JHPL), Bhilwara Energy and Tata Power also own and operate hydro power projects in the country and in neighbouring Nepal.

Jaiprakash Hydro-Power Ltd (JHPL), a part of the Jaypee Group, owns and operates the 300 Mw Baspa-II Hydroelectric Project at Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh and is working on the second phase of 300 Mw.

Bhilwara Energy is targeting to develop 3,000 Mw of hydro power by 2015 through 11 small and medium scale projects in Nepal, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Tata Power, which currently generates 447 Mw of power from hydroelectric projects, is also looking to add another 1,000 Mw from projects in Nepal, Bhutan and India.

In the run-off river type of hydroelectric power plants, the cascading water of the river is diverted through a tunnel and is used to run the turbines for generation of electricity.

The RoR projects in Arunachal Pradesh were planned after analysing the rainfall and water availability for the last 100 years, elaborated officials.

The Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) projects will be implemented by separate shell companies formed for the purpose, said sources.

They added that R-Power has started preliminary work for the Siyom and Tato projects in Arunachal and one of the projects may reach financial closure in a few months.