CLP India will develop two new wind energy plants

CLP India announced that it will develop two new wind farms – one in Rajasthan and the other in Andhra Pradesh. The 102.4 MW Sipla wind farm will be located at Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan, and the 50.4 MW Narmada Wind farm will be located at Nallakonda, Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. CLP India has entered into agreements with major wind turbines manufacturer, Enercon India Ltd, to develop these greenfield projects.

The Sipla and Narmada wind farms will use 128 and 63 Enercon Gearless E53 800 kW wind turbines respectively. Both projects will be developed and constructed under a comprehensive EPC arrangement and will be commercially operational by March 2012.

With these two projects, CLP’s wind portfolio has grown to 638.8 MW – reinforcing its position as the largest wind energy developer in India. These projects have also grown CLP’s geographical presence in India to two new states – Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh – in addition to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Commenting on this occasion, Rajiv Mishra, managing director, CLP India, said: “CLP is proud to be a contributor to the Indian power sector, with one of the most well balanced portfolios of conventional and renewables sources. Amongst the renewables sources, wind will continue to dominate, as it has over the past few years, with around 70% of the country’s total grid connected renewable power capacity from wind projects. We are committed to growing our presence in the renewables space, especially with wind power projects. The Sipla and Narmada projects reinforce this commitment.”

“We are pleased with the government’s growing attention to the renewable energy industry. 2010 was a defining year in this direction with the finalization of Generation Based Incentive mechanism and implementation of Renewable Energy Certificates scheme across various states in India. These pragmatic measures reinforce CLP’s commitment to strengthen its Indian presence and contribute meaningfully to adding more green power to the Indian grid,” said Mahesh Makhija, Director, Business Development (Renewables), CLP India.

“The Sipla and Narmada deals have set a milestone in our relationship with Enercon by taking it to 500MW, which in itself is a benchmark in the Indian market”, Mr Makhija added.

“We are delighted that CLP India has selected Enercon as their wind energy solution provider for the Sipla and Narmada Wind Farm Projects. We have worked on five projects for CLP India and this new partnership further strengthens our successful, long standing relationship,” said Yogesh Mehra, Managing Director, Enercon India Ltd.

In addition to its renewable energy portfolio, CLP India owns and operates a modern 655MW combined cycle gas power plant in Village Paguthan near Bharuch in Gujarat and is also building a 1,320MW supercritical coal-fired power project at Jhajjar in the northern state of Haryana – a project CLP India won through international competitive bidding in July 2008.

CLP’s Manifesto on Climate Change has set an ambitious target of reducing the carbon intensity by 75% by 2050 across the Group’s power generation portfolio in the region. To achieve this, renewable energy will play a key role in meeting the intermediate goal of having 30% of its generation capacity from non-emitting sources by 2020, which include nuclear, wind, hydro, biomass and other renewable sources.

CLP India is a wholly owned subsidiary of the CLP Group, a Hong Kong-listed company and one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia. CLP India is one of the largest foreign investors in the Indian power sector and is responsible for developing CLP’s presence in the Indian market. It has a diversified and climate friendly generation portfolio that covers renewable energy, supercritical coal fired, and gas fired generation, amounting to approximately 2,613.6 MW.

CLP India owns and operates a 655 MW gas-fired IPP in Gujarat. It is also one of the largest wind power developers in the country with approximately 638.8 MW of committed wind projects at different stages of implementation. The total committed investment by CLP India is in excess of INR97 billion including the 1320MW coal-fired Jhajjar Power Plant in Haryana.

In line with the CLP Group’s commitment to develop 30% of generating capacity from non-carbon emitting energy sources such as renewable energy and nuclear power by 2020, CLP is investing in renewable energy projects in Asia Pacific, focusing on wind power, small hydro and biomass, with an emphasis on India, China and Australia.

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