The Hindu Business Line : PTC plans to enter long-term contracts with power producers

UNFAZED by competition in the power trading business, PTC India Ltd (formerly Power Trading Corporation) has chalked out plans to enter into long-term contracts with power producers and to take up equity in new projects.

"We are facing competition only in short-term trading (of power), which is just one segment of our activity. We are diversifying into other areas like long-term power trading, gas and coal linkages for upcoming power projects. We are also picking up equity in certain projects," the PTC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Tantra Narayan Thakur, told Business Line here on Friday.

PTC has taken up 11 per cent equity in the Lanco Amarkantak project in Chhattisgarh and is on the lookout for more projects where it can take up an equity stake, Mr Thakur said. As part of its diversification effort, the corporation has also decided to act as an intermediary in tying up gas and coal linkages for upcoming power projects with which it plans to enter into long-term buying arrangements.

"We want to support projects from which we will off-take power. To ensure the success of a power project, we are willing to offer any kind of assistance, including equity support," he said. PTC has already inked memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for power projects aggregating to 5,000 MW and has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 2,000 MW electricity. This includes the 750-MW West Seti hydroelectric project in Nepal, for which PTC has signed a PPA deal for the entire production.

"In the next couple of years, we will start dealing in long-term power arrangements. As of now, we are focused only on the short-term trading business where rivals have come into the picture in the recent past. But even here, our rivals often take up leads identified by us and go ahead and work out trading agreements. Being pioneers, we have the head-start over the others in identifying surplus and deficit opportunities in the country," he said.