Guj NRE waits for wind-fall
(The Telegraph, Kolkata, October 31, 2005)

Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd will set up a 25-mw-wind power plant at an estimated investment of Rs 122 crore.

The unit will start generating power around March 2006. This way, the company can save Rs 24 crore annually.

The Gujarat NRE board has approved the plan. It has mandated Suzlon Energy to set up the unit on a turnkey basis in the Kutch area of Gujarat. Suzlon will construct, operate and maintain the unit.

With the proposed expansion of the existing capacity of Gujarat NRE, the company will require additional power from the Gujarat State Electricity Board at a cost of around Rs 4.50 a unit. Compared with that, the wind farm will generate power at about Rs 0.50 a unit.

Suzlon will set up 20 wind turbine generators of 1.25 mw each. With a plant load factor of 25 per cent, the generators will together produce about 6 mw.

With a captive waste heat recovery thermal power plant in place, the leading non-captive metallurgical coke manufacture will be self-sufficient in power.

The company will take loans worth Rs 85 crore from banks and financial institutions. The annual outgo to service the debt will be equal to the savings resulting from switching to wind power.

�We will pay back the lenders in five years. With a life span of 20 years, the unit will provide virtually free for the next 15 years. Without any extra outflow, we will create an asset in the company,� Gujarat NRE president Sumit Khetan said.

The company will also benefit from carbon credit through a clean development mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol.

Also, there will be tax benefits by the way of depreciation from the plant.

With its subsidiary � Bharat NRE Coke � the capacity of the company is 0.84 million tonnes. By the end of 2006, it will go up to 1.4 million tonnes.

The company is also setting up a mini steel plant. This will also its power requirements. The wind turbine generators will help the company meet the demand in-house.