Reliance Power to raise over Rs 20k cr to fund projects

Anil Ambani group company Reliance Power plans to raise over Rs 20,000 crore in the current fiscal to finance various projects, including the 4,000 MW Krishnapatnam ultra mega power project (UMPP).

"We are on course to raise Rs 20,000 crore of debt this
fiscal, having made significant progress in getting appraisals and sanctions for our Krishnapatnam UMPP," Reliance Power Chairman Anil Ambani told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting held here today.

The company had raised a similar amount of debt in FY'09
as well.

"We will continue to focus on identifying and participating in bids (to develop more projects)," he said.

Reliance Power would expedite the commissioning of its
projects ahead of schedule, Ambani said, adding that "we are
seeking to advance the commissioning of the Sasan project by
almost three-years."

The power from the Sasan project would be sold to consumers at a levelised tariff of Rs 1.19 per kwh for 25 years, he said.

Reliance Power has bagged three of four contracts for
developing UMPPs in the country.

"Our present portfolio of over 33,000 MW in the next
seven to eight years averages to almost 5,000 MW every year.
Of this, we propose to commission nearly 3,000 MW by 2012. The pace of commissioning will pick up considerably after that and we should be on course to bring on-stream the remainder of our thermal projects by the middle of the 12th Plan," Ambani said.

On the Rosa project, Ambani said that the 600 MW Phase
I of the project (located in Uttar Pradesh) is running ahead
of schedule. "We expect to finish it before end-this year."

"This means that we will commission the project in
less than three years time," he said.

With respect to the implementation of Rosa Phase II,
Ambani said that the company expected it to be up and running before the end of the 11th Plan.

On the 4,000 MW Chitrangi project in Madhya Pradesh,
Ambani said, "We have secured bid to supply 1,200 MW of power to the Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Company Ltd at a levelised tariff of Rs 2.45 per unit of electricity.

"As for the balance, we will tie-up a portion of the
capacity through long-term PPAs while reserving a substantial part for merchant sale."

On hydro power, Ambani said that the actual capacity
created so far was only 37,000 MW or 25 per cent of the
country's total installed capacity.

The company has bagged four hydro power projects, he
said.

"We have bagged four hydro power projects -- Mulin,
Emini, Mihundon and Kalai with a total capacity of 2,500 MW
from the Arunachal Pradesh Government. We now have over 4,000 MW of hydro projects in our portfolio -- these will bring jobs and development to the North-East," Ambani said.