The Hindu Business Line : Anil Ambani group foraying into power equipment

New Delhi, Jan 6 The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is slated to make a foray into power equipment manufacturing and is in talks for a partnership with global majors, the Chairman, Mr Anil Ambani, said here on Sunday.

“We are currently in dialogue with two or three global majors for co-operation for large-scale power equipment manufacturing, including turbines,” Mr Ambani said, while announcing the initial public offering of group company Reliance Power, which is being billed as the country’s largest and could raise up to Rs 11,700 crore.

Mr Ambani said there could be some developments over the next couple of months on the company’s plans to enter equipment manufacturing. The proposed move is aimed at ensuring timely and large-scale availability of equipment at competitive rates, as one of the biggest constraints he faced for large and small power projects is the availability of quality equipment - not just technology but also in pricing, competitiveness and delivery.

Reliance Power is eyeing a generating capacity of 28,000 MW over the next five years.

“This is the largest portfolio of power generation within a group and geographical area anywhere in the world. In fact, under the 11th Plan period (2007-12), the Government has envisaged adding 80,000 MW of power,” Mr Ambani said.

Reliance Power, an associate of listed firm Reliance Energy, was in November awarded the 4,000-MW Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project, having bid the lowest tariff of Rs 2.33 per unit. This came on the heels of the firm bagging the mandate to develop the 4,000-MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in Madhya Pradesh in August.

On the requirement of coal and gas to power some of the company’s projects, Mr Ambani said that the company was in discussions with about four countries for importing coal.

However, he said, India has one of the largest reserves of coal, but there was a need to monetise that and Sasan (where a pit-head mine was awarded with the project) was a step in that direction.

On the requirement of gas, Mr Ambani said, “We have been approached by a number of gas producers for supply of long-term gas,” adding that it was his belief that over the medium and long-term India will produce more gas than it requires.

It may be recalled that earlier there have been issues regarding the reworking of a gas supply agreement between Reliance Industries and the Anil Ambani group as a couple of Reliance Power’s projects rely on gas supplies from RIL’s K-G basin fields.