Techno Electric & Engineering
Company, a new entrant in the
wind energy business, is set to
have a wind power portfolio of well
over 200 mw by end of October. The
Kolkata-based engineering company
recently commissioned a 101.4-mw
wind farm in Tamil Nadu through its
wholly-owned subsidiary Simran
Wind Project Pvt Ltd. The fast-track
project is part of Techno's plan of
annually adding 150-200 mw of new
wind power capacity, with a
cumulative target of attaining 1,250
mw by 2017. Techno's current wind
power capacity stands at 196.85 mw.
The 101.4-mw wind farm,
commissioned in a period of just six
months, is spread over the
Amuthapuram, Rasta and
Muthiampatti regions of Tamil Nadu.
Simran Wind has entered into a 20-year
power purchase agreement under REC
scheme with Tamil Nadu Generation &
Distribution Company (Tangedco) at
an average tariff of
2.37 per kwh. The
project was funded through a mix of
debt worth
360 crore and equity of
240 crore. International Finance
Corporation, a World Bank Group
member, picked up 3.38 per cent equity
stake in Simran Wind Project for
22.5
crore ($5 million). Lenders to the project
include IFC, Standard Chartered Bank
and DBS Bank.
"Renewable energy generation has
become quite attractive and with right
incentives in place wind power can play
a major role in securing a sustainable
and clean energy future for India. Wind
alone accounts for over 70 per cent
capacity amongst other alternatives,”
P.P. Gupta, Managing Director, Techno
Electric & Engineering Company, noted
in a statement.
Techno entered the wind energy
business in 2009 by acquiring Super
Wind Power Project Pvt Ltd, a company
owned by Suzlon Energy. Super Wind,
which became part of Techno Group
through reverse amalgamation, today
has an operational wind power capacity
of 45 mw, spread over Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh.
Subsequently, Techno acquired
Simran Wind Power Pvt Ltd, another
Suzlon-owned company, and turned
it into a wholly-owned subsidiary. At
the time of acquisition, Simran had
operational wind power capacity of
50.45 mw, also in Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh.
Techno's wind power ambitions
were evident in September last year
when Simran Wind Power placed a
huge
1,149-crore order on Suzlon
Energy for 106 turbines (of S92, S88
and S82 models) aggregating 202.8
mw, for deployment at the Tamil
Nadu project. This was then
construed to be the single-biggest
order placed by any wind power
producer in India. The newly
commissioned 101.4-mw Tamil Nadu
wind farm is part of this order. Out of
the remaining capacity of 101.4-mw,
some 12.6 mw is scheduled to come on
stream by October this year. The
remaining will be commissioned by
March next year.
Tamil Nadu is India's powerhouse
of wind energy with 5,520 mw of
installed capacity as of January
2011, accounting for 42 per cent of
India's total as of that date. During
FY11 (up to January 31, 2011), India
saw 1,377 mw of new wind power
generation capacity added, with
Tamil Nadu alone accounting for 613
mw. As of January 31, 2011, India's
total wind power capacity stood at
13,183 mw earning it the fifth rank
in the world.