In what could be a balm for power-starved Tamil Nadu, a group company of Suryachakra Power Corporation Ltd has inked a deal with Winwind Power Energy Private Ltd (WPEPL), which is part-owned by Chennai-based Sivasankaran Group, to establish one of the largest single-location wind energy projects at Dharapuram in Tirupur district, Tamil Nadu.

Though the financial details of the 250 MW project have not been revealed, based on the per MW cost of wind energy, it is estimated the project could cost about Rs 1,500 crore. The location is considered ideal for establishing wind farms in the State.

In a communication to the stock exchanges on Monday, Suryachakra Power said that its group company, Suryachakra Green Power Pvt Ltd (SGPPL), has entered into a MoU with WPEPL for setting up a wind energy plant of 250 MW capacity at Dharapuram.

Finnish technology

Explaining the salient features of the MoU, the company said that WPEPL would bring technology from its Finnish principal which has supplied 1 MW wind energy generators (WEGs) to many countries. (Already WEGs of 80 MW capacity are in operation in India.)

Suryachakra said that WPEPL will undertake operations and maintenance (O&M) of the project for 10 years after completion of the one-year warranty period and extend support to SGPPL to secure carbon development mechanism (CDM) benefits, generation-based incentives (GBIs) and other related benefits.

According to sources, WPEPL is interested in a 20 per cent equity participation in the project and will also help in sourcing 60 per cent of the required debt from the EU and financial institutions. But it did not give any financial details of the cost of land, machinery, and so on, of the project.

Cost of project

Speaking to Business Line , Mr K. Kasthoorirangaian, Chairman, Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA), and CMD, RSM Autokast, Coimbatore, said normally the cost of establishing a 1 MW wind energy plant is around Rs 6-6.50 crore. This includes the cost of land, machinery and other facilities. Based on this, the cost of the Dharapuram project may work out to be around Rs 1,500 crore.

Asked about the location, he said among the sites with high wind energy generation potential still available in Tamil Nadu, the Dharapuram area held good promise. The annual power generation per MW in that region could be around 23 lakh units.

Ownership

According to Winwind's Web site ( www.winwind.com ), the company's main owners are the Siva Group, Masdar and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. While the Siva Group has interests in different sectors, including communication, media, renewable energy, real estate, agriculture and food and wellness, Masdar is owned by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), a wholly-owned company of the Abu Dhabi Government. Finnish Industry is a government-owned investment company.

Apart from manufacturing facilities overseas, Winwind, in September 2009, set up a modern assembly and blade manufacturing facility in Vengal, near Chennai.

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