Torrent Power Targets Generating Capacity of 8,600 Megawatts

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Torrent Power Limited (BOM:532779) (Ahmedabad, Gujarat) has announced plans to generate 8,600 megawatts (MW) of power by setting up new greenfield and brownfield projects. The first in the series of new projects is the 1,147-MW power project in Sujen in the Surat district. The gas-based $697 million combined-cycle project is scheduled for completion in the 2008-09 financial year. The plant will be fed by a 22-kilometer spur-line that connects it to the Gujarat State Petronet Limited's Mora-Ankleshwar gas pipeline in Bhadol. Torrent proposes to upgrade the project's generating capacity by an additional 3,000 MW in the second phase. Another ambitious project being planned is the 1,500-MW gas-based project in the Dahej Special Economic Zone. Torrent is a co-developer of the project, which will generate 400 MW in the first phase.

Apart from these gas-based projects, Torrent is also planning to set up several thermal power projects. The company has incorporated a new subsidiary, Torrent Pipavav Generation Limited, to implement the proposed 2,000-MW coal-based power project in Pipavav in the Saurashtra region. Torrent will source the coal required for the project from Orissa. In another major expansion move, the company has signed an agreement with the Chattisgarh State Electricity Board to establish a 1,000-MW thermal power project in the state.

Torrent Power Limited, a part of the $714 million Torrent Group, was founded in 1996 as an integrated electricity generation, transmission and distribution company. It is the exclusive distributor of electric power to the cities of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat in Gujarat. Currently, the company has an operational generation capacity of 500 MW. It supplies 10 billion kilowatt-hours of power annually and serves over 1.9 million customers. Torrent pioneered the power distribution franchisee business in December 2006 by entering into an agreement with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (Prakashgad) for distribution of power in the Bhiwandi Circle. This was the first-ever such partnership in India between public- and private-sector companies. The completion of the new projects is expected to catapult Torrent Power to the league of the country's top power companies such as National Thermal Power Corporation (Delhi), Tata Power Company Limited (BOM:500400) (Mumbai) and Reliance Power Limited (BOM:532939) (Navi Mumbai).

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