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The Shapoorji Pallonji group is likely to begin work on a 50 MW solar power project in Egypt, it is reliably learnt. Sources say that the plant will be owned by the group company, Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Company Ltd.
The company bagged the project by responding to an Expression of Interest. The power purchase agreement will be signed with the Egyptian Electrical Transmission Company (EETC), a state-owned power transmission at distribution utility, for a tariff of US cents 14.38, which translates to about Rs 9. Payments by EETC will be backed by a sovereign guarantee, it is learnt. But it is up to the company to purchase the land.
The group is developing a solar portfolio in India too. It is close to signing a PPA for a 10 MW project in Telangana (tariff of Rs 6.90 a kWhr), but its big solar projects are likely to come up in Tamil Nadu. An agreement with the TN generation and distribution utility is imminent and the group could sign PPAs for 70-80 MW, sources said.
Group company Sterling & Wilson is the largest solar project construction company in India. It has also built plants in South Africa and The Philippines.
This, by far, is the second major foray by an Indian company in the solar sector in Africa. (Chennai-based Voltech group has announced that it would put up a 10 MW solar project in Zambia and is working on a 20-year PPA with a Rs 12 tariff.)
The Shapoorji Pallonji group, which has companies such as Shapooji Pallonji & Company Ltd., Afcons Infrastructure, Sterling & Wilson and Eureka Forbes, is the largest private shareholder in the holding company of the Tata group, Tata Sons Ltd., with 18.4 per cent stake. The SP group is predominantly into construction.
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