Tata Power eyes stakes in green tech companies

Tata Power, India’s biggest private energy producer, is looking to generate a quarter of total power produced through renewable energy sources in the next few years and is open to buying stakes in companies working to develop clean energy technologies.

S Ramakrishnan, executive director, Tata Power told DNA Money, “In the past, we have bought stakes in firms involved in developing clean energy and will continue to do so if any significant opportunities prop up in the future.” Tata Power had recently bought stakes in two Australian firms—a 5% stake in Exergen for $10 million and 10% stake in Geodynamics for $50 million.
Exergen has developed a cost-effective moisture removal process for high moisture brown coal, which will emit only 800 kg of CO2 per mw as compared with the current level of 1,500 kg.

Geodynamics work in the area of developing geothermal energy.
Tata Power and another Australian company Sunengy are jointly developing a floating concentrated solar PV pilot project.
Ramakrishnan said Tata Power is in touch with large global utility companies such as American Electric Power, Tokyo Electric and Vattenfall, which are evaluating clean coal technologies such as integrated gasification combined cycle plants.

Tata Power’s current generation capacity is 5,297 mw, out of which about 22% comes from clean sources.
The company generated revenue of `471 crore from clean energy sources in the last nine months of fiscal 2012, he said.  
In January, Tata Power commissioned a 25 mw solar power project in Mithapur, Gujarat.

“Tata Power plans to set up 300 mw of solar power capacity by 2017. The company is also looking at solar rooftops on buildings,” he said.

Tata Power, which currently has an installed wind capacity of 375 mw, plans to add 150 mw every year till fiscal 2015. It is also developing power from waste gases generated during steel-making.

“We have already set up various plants at Haldia and Jamshedpur based on waste gases model that are helping in reducing greenhouse gas emission significantly,” he said. Tata Power is looking at some more waste gases power project with Tata Steel, he said.  

Tata Power is developing the 236 mw Dugar Hydro Power project in Himachal Pradesh in partnership with S N Power, Norway.
“The team has carried out route survey, geological mapping and contour mapping of the project site. Currently, the project is being optimised for 500 mw,” he said.