Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) plans to more than triple its power generation capacity in five years, betting on demand for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar in Asia's third-largest economy. India has made renewable energy a priority as it looks to address its chronic power shortages and fulfil an election promise of round-the-clock power to all Indians by 2022. IL&FS, whose generation capacity is about 1,500 megawatts (MW), including about 900 MW of renewable energy, will take the total to about 5,000 MW in the next five years, Managing Director Hari Sankaran said on Wednesday. Half of that would be from coal and gas and half will come from renewable energy. "It is potentially possible for solar to become a really meaningful player in the mix, in the energy mix of the country as a whole. Because the price points have become more reasonable now. And India is really a big market," he said. The company has a small solar power generation capacity, but will add 1,000 MW. Wind power generation capacity is set to more than double to 1,500 MW from 700 MW now, Sankaran said. Japan's Orix Corp and sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) own more than a third of IL&FS, whose biggest shareholder is Indian state-run insurer Life Insurance Corp of India. IL&FS expects capital expenditure of about 40 billion rupees ($641.5 million) on its energy businesses in the next three years, he said, adding they were looking for funding options. The company is open to listing its energy assets as a business trust in Singapore as well as through an initial public offering in India. Selling a stake to private equity is also an option, he said. "Business trust for stable cash flows appears interesting. So we looked at it, we are looking at it. The capital markets in India are attractive from some points of view for energy," he said, declining to give a time frame for a possible listing.
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Over the past year, India’s power sector has witnessed an unusual trend: a slew of deals to acquire distressed assets has fallen through at the last minute.
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The government hopes to attract $250 billion (Rs 15 lakh crore) investment in the energy sector in the next four to five years to provide electricity to all, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. Goyal, who estimated India's total power consumption would double to 2 trillion units by 2019, said the majority of the money would come from the private sector but the government would also invest more. He estimated $100 billion would go into renewable energy. Efforts are being made to increase coal production, strengthen electricity transmission network and get back gas-based power plants on stream, said Goyal, who also holds portfolios of coal and renewable energy ministries. Speaking at the India Economic Summit, organised in New Delhi by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Goyal said the government is pushing ahead with plans for the renewable sector, especially solar energy, where the generation capacity would be increased to 100,000 MW by 2022. "We are expecting around $250 billion investments in the next four to five years. About $100 billion will be in the renewable energy," Goyal said. The electricity transmission segment is expected to see an investment of around $50 billion during this period, he added. The government is sincere in its efforts and "will protect investments", the minister said. India sits on the world's fifth-largest reserves of coal, which generates three-fifths of India's power supply. But the demand for electricity far outstrips supply, and according to data compiled by the World Resources Institute in 2012, proposals have been made to set up 455 new coal-fired plants in the country. Research house Integrated Research and Action for Development said earlier this year India needs to invest $250 billion in the power sector by 2017. The coal industry has struggled to ramp up production as a result of which many power plants have been forced to import coal. Coal India Ltd (CIL), which accounts for 80 per cent of domestic coal production, missed its output target of 482 million tonnes for the 2013-14 fiscal year, producing 462 million tonnes during the period. Goyal said Coal India is expected to double its production to around one billion tonnes by 2019. The private sector is expected to play a bigger role in the coal sector and an ordinance issued recently by the government addresses many of the issues, he said. On September 24, the Supreme Court of India cancelled all but four of the 218 coal block allocated between 1993 and 2011. (Agencies)
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