A wind-power project with an initial capacity of over 100 MW, claimed to be one of the largest in the country, has been commissioned by Simran Wind Project Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the Kolkata-based Techno Electric & Engineering Company Ltd in Tamil Nadu.

The project has been funded through a mix of debt (Rs 360 crore) and equity (Rs 240 crore) and International Finance Cirporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, has also picked up a minority stake in the venture.

In a communication to the stock exchanges, Techno said it had commissioned the first phase of expansion of a 101.4-MW wind-power project. With more locations being available on the same site, Techno has planned to increase generation capacity by 12.6 MW by next month, taking the total power generation capacity of phase-1 to 114 MW.

The project has come up in Amuthapuram, Rasta and Muthiampatti belt in Tamil Nadu. The wind energy potential in the location was high as established by the plant load factor of around 27.5 per cent on average.

The company has entered into a 20-year power-purchase agreement under the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) scheme with the Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Company at an average power-purchase-cost tariff of Rs 2.37 a unit. The project is expected to generate 240,000 RECs on annually and has been completed within six months.

IFC, which has extended financial assistance of $5 million (Rs 22.5 crore), has been roped in as an equity partner in Simran with a 3.38 per cent stake. Other lenders included Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank.

Mr P. P. Gupta, Managing Director, Techno, said with the completion of this project, the generation capacity has gone up to 196.85 MW. The company has planned to ramp up production capacity by about 150-200 MW annually and achieve a target of 1,250 MW by end of the 12th Plan period. He said among alternative sources of energy, wind energy accounted for over 70 per cent capacity

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