CESC forays into solar power

CESC Ltd, the private power utility from the RPG Group stable, is setting up a 200mw solar power project in Rajasthan at a cost of around Rs2,000 crore.

“The proposed unit will be set up near Bikaner in Rajasthan and the work for the first phase will be starting within the next couple of months. We have already acquired 300 acres for that purpose,” RPG Group vice chairman Sanjiv Goenka said after the company’s annual general meeting on Friday.

CESC is in talks with some big companies for technology tie-up, he said, adding, “The entire project would be completed within the next five years.”

On CESC’s thermal power projects, Goenka said it has achieved financial closure for a 600 mw thermal power project at the industrial township of Haldia in East Midnapore district of West Bengal. “We have plans to invest around Rs3,300 crore for the Haldia project,” he said.

It will also invest around Rs3,200 crore for setting up a 600mw thermal power plant at Balagarh in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

The company plans to take its power generation capacity from 1,225mw to about 8,065mw by setting up coal-based plants in Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar, besides West Bengal.

For the quarter ended June, CESC reported a net profit at Rs110 crore riding on sales of Rs1,082 crore. Goenka said a steep rise in fuel price impacted the power purchase price and tariffs significantly, in turn denting the net profit.

On the group’s retail venture, Spencer’s, Goenka said the earlier plan to raise funds by selling a stake in the unit has been delayed due to differences with potential buyers over valuation.

“However, we have not shelved the plan of stake sale in Spencer’s and we are having dialogues with a couple of private equity firms,” he said.

According to Goenka, Spencer’s will break even within the next year and half.

The venture is undergoing a major expansion of its store area and is targeting to add 200,000sq ft to the current 900,000sq ft. It currently has about 215 stores across the country.