Race quickens for top spot in PVT power

The race among the newer crop of private sector power producers to become the largest, displacing Tata Power, is gaining momentum. Among those aiming to catch up in the next two years are companies promoted by leading corporate houses such as Adani Power, Reliance Power, GMR Energy and Lanco Infratech.

Tata Power, which had a generation capacity of 2,978 Mw in 2009-10, is aiming to reach 6,079 Mw by the end of 2011-12. It will soon commission the first unit of its 1,050-Mw Maithon power project. Next year, the company targets to commission 1,600 Mw at Mundra (Kutch), the country’s first 4,000-Mw ultra mega power project (UMPP). Besides, it will commission 118 Mw of wind energy and a 25-Mw solar power unit at Mithapur (Jamnagar), said its executives.

Its main competition in the near future will be from Adani Power, which currently has 990 Mw of operational capacity. Adani has various projects on ground for a total generation capacity of 16,500 Mw, of which 6,600 Mw will be operational in the financial year 2011-12, Gautam Adani, group chairman, told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting a few months earlier. It is to commission 4,620 Mw at Mundra (Kutch) within the next two years, as part of setting up a 6,600-Mw coal-fired power project. Once fully commissioned, this will be the largest power generation plant in India.

Then there is the Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power, targeting to commission 5,000 Mw within the next two years. R-Power has already commissioned 600 Mw of its Rosa (Shahjahanpur, UP) power plant and has planed to soon commission the second phase there. Plus, a 300-Mw group captive power project at Butibori in Maharashtra. Further, R-Power is awaiting its shareholders’ nod and other statutory clearances to acquire 413-Mw power generation assets from group company Reliance Infrastructure. Its Sasan UMPP (Madhya Pradesh) is also progressing on schedule and the first unit is likely to be commissioned by December 2012, R-Power CEO J P Chalasani told Business Standard.

Lanco Infratech, now the second largest power generator after Tata Power with 2,092 Mw, is fast catching up with Tata Power. The company has 7,153 Mw under construction and projects such as the 742-Mw Lanco Kondapalli-III phase expansion, Lanco Power Ltd’s first unit of its 2x660 Mw coal-based project near Pathadi in Chhattisgarh and a 600-Mw unit of Udupi Power are likely to be commissioned within the next two years.

Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Energy currently has an operational capacity of 1,730 Mw and another 1,410 Mw is in advanced stages of completion, said its spokesperson. JSW Energy, which is targeting to set up 12,070 Mw by 2015-16, targets to reach a capacity of 3140 Mw within the next two years.

The Bangalore-based GMR Energy’s plans are to add at least 3,618 Mw of capacity within the next two years, in addition to its current capacity of 808.5 Mw. Its major projects under implementation include a 1,200-Mw coal-fired project in Chhattisgarh and a 1,050-Mw project at Dhenkanal in Orissa, 768 Mw of capacity addition at its Rajahmundry gas-based power plant in Andhra Pradesh and 600 Mw of Emco Power at Warora in Maharashtra.

Other corporate houses such as GVK, Sterlite Energy and Indiabulls are also developing power projects, but are unlikely to pose a threat to the front runners in the area of installed capacity in the near future.