Birla Power Solutions Ltd (BPSL), part of the Yash Birla Group, is venturing into the power generation sector. It will invest around Rs 5,000 crore to set up a coal-based thermal plant and solar power plants in various states. BPSL has floated sub- sidiaries Birla Urja Ltd (BUL) and Birla Energy Infra Ltd (BEIL) for coal and solar plants with a holding of 51 per cent in each. BPSL will invest Rs 3,000 crore to set up a 600-megawatt (MW) coal-fired thermal power plant in Maharashtra.

It will also invest Rs 2,000 crore to set up 125 MW of solar photovoltaic power plants over the next three years. It will set up a 10 MW solar plant in Haryana, a 5 MW plant in Uttarakhand, another 5 MW plant in Rajasthan and a 50 MW plant in Andhra Pradesh. The com- pany plans to commission these plants in two to three years. Yash Birla, chairman of Yash Birla Group, said, “The com- pany envisions to be a signifi- cant player in the area of power utility segment in India and pro- poses to develop an environ- ment- friendly energy portfolio that will support energy requirements for propelling economic growth“. The company plans to fund the project through a mix of debt and equity where 70 per cent will be debt and the rest equity.

Birla said, “The fund- ing for all these ventures will be through internal resource allocation and various other forms like private equity, insti- tutional loans, GDRs and a fol- low-on public issue“. The com- pany will use 50 per cent of the power from the coal fired plant for captive consumption for its plants in Maharashtra and the rest will be sold to state gov- ernments. The power from solar plants will be sold to the respective state governments. BPSL, which collaborated with Yamaha Motor of Japan for gensets, will not tie up with any foreign partner for these plants. “We are not going to tie up with any foreign company, only equipment will be import- ed for power plants,“ he said.