JSW in Rs 800 cr turbine plant plan in Chennai

After announcing a mammoth Rs 80,000 crore of investments in various steel projects, the JSW group is now lining up huge investments in the energy sector.

JSW Energy, which has a power generation capacity of 800 mw at present, is currently setting up a 3,200 mw super- critical thermal power plant in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra with an investment outlay of Rs 15,000 crore.

In the latest move, Toshiba JSW Turbine and Generator Pvt Ltd (Toshiba JSW), its joint venture with electronic goods major Toshiba Corporation of Japan, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a facility to manufacture and market steam turbines and generators.

The plant, to be located near Chennai, will take an investment of Rs 800 crore, the company said. The MoU allows Toshiba JSW to lease land for the construction of manufacturing facilities on a site in Chennai, it stated.

"Facility construction is scheduled to start this month, and manufacturing is expected to start in January 2011. Keihin Operations, Toshiba's power equipment production facility in Yokohama, will support Toshiba JSW in ramping up manufacturing, and in working toward establishing an independent production scale of 3,000 mw a year," Itaru Ishibashi, managing director of Toshiba JSW, said.

The venture expects sales of Rs 2,000 crore by March 2015.
S S Rao, director of Toshiba JSW and joint managing director and CEO of JSW Energy, said the company will start recruitments now and have 500 employees by 2014.

Toshiba holds 75% ownership rights in the JV, established in September last year, with JSW Energy holding 20% and JSW Steel the rest.

Jindal said the group is looking to raise Rs 5,000 crore from the stock market to fund its projects.

Going by the national electricity plan, demand for power generation equipment is likely to see a growth of 15,000-16,000 mw a year over the next decade. Coal-fired thermal power stations will account for over 60% of the capacity growth and 80% of those power stations will be highly efficient super-critical thermal power plants.
-source DNAINDIA.COM