AES plans $15bn spending spree in India to raise power generation capacity - Targets 10 pc of revenue from South Asian nation in 5 years

 

• AES, the US utility with operations in 29 countries, plans to spend as much as $15bn to increase capacity in India and get 10 per cent of its revenue from the South Asian nation in five years. "A big part of that would be financed by banks," Chief Executive Officer Paul Hanrahan said in an interview in New Delhi, reported Bloomberg. "The equity piece would be about $4bn to $5bn." Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government plans to tap private investments as it plans to double infrastructure spending in India to $1 trn in the five years ending 2017. Asia's second-biggest energy consumer is adding electricity- generation capacity to reduce blackouts and fuel an economy that grew at the fastest pace in more than two years in the three months ended 30 June.
• AES, based in Arlington, Virginia, is looking for partners to build plants with a combined capacity of as much as 10 GW. The utility may sell shares in its Indian unit in three to four years to fund these projects, Hanrahan said. The company currently owns 49 per cent in a 420 MW power plant in Orissa state with the local government holding the rest. The Orissa plant's capacity will be increased by 1300 MW by 2014 and another 1300 MW three years after that, Hanrahan said. AES has been awarded the rights to build a 1200 MW plant in Chhattisgarh state, he said.