Developers look to the hills for luxury housing

Chennai-based Rajalakshmi group, which last week bought 63 MW of wind assets from Ashok Leyland, feels it has acquired expertise in ‘operations and maintenance’ of wind turbines, and seeks joint venture partners for expanding its portfolio.

Capacity augment

The Rajalakshmi group, whose flagship enterprise is the Rajalakshmi group of engineering and technology institutions, intends to expand its renewable energy portfolio.

It plans to increase its wind capacity to 200 MW and also put up 53 MW of solar power, for which it has land in Tamil Nadu.

Rajalakshmi Renewables Pvt Ltd, the company that bought Ashok Leyland’s assets, has applied for 20 MW of solar energy under Tamil Nadu’s existing solar policy and expects to sign the power purchase agreement with State electricity generation and distribution utility, TANGEDCO.

The group had a few windmills back in the late 1990s, but it is really starting its innings in renewable energy with the acquisition of the Ashok Leyland assets. It is learnt that the Chennai-based truck manufacturer has put the 63-MW of wind assets in a separate company, in which the Rajalakshmi group has a 74-per cent stake.

The consideration values the enterprise at Rs.174 crore. The company will sell power to Ashok Leyland and Hinduja Foundries. These machines were put up between 1997 and 2007 and as such are of varied vintage; the oldest machine being 18 years old. Rajalakshmi Renewables is looking at both options for expansion — adding new machines and re-powering, which is basically removing the old machines and putting up new, higher-capacity machines in their place.

Abhay Meganathan of the Rajalakshmi group told BusinessLine on Friday the acquisition has given the group expertise in running and maintaining old generation wind turbines, for which there is a good demand.

The group today has 750 acres of land, of which 470 acres have been reserved for solar power plants that can accommodate 53 MW of solar PV, he said.

Joint development

The group is also looking at joint development options for solar, he said. Business Line