SJVN to invest Rs 35K cr in 5 yrs

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 12

The SJVN will invest a whopping Rs 35,000 crore in five years to enhance its generation capacity by 3,000 MW from the current installed capacity of 2,016.51 MW. “We will not take money from either the state government or the Centre for making this investment. The funds will come from our profits and bank loans,” said SJVN chairman and MD Nand Lal Sharma. With a current networth of Rs 11,759.31 crore, the company believes it has the financial strength to fund the equity portion for new projects.

Sharma said the SJVN had earned a profit of Rs 17,300 crore since 2003-04, when the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jakhri project was commissioned. “In the last 17 years, we have given a dividend of Rs 4,934 crore to the Centre and Rs 1,949 crore to the state government,” said Sharma. “Besides, the government had earned an additional Rs 4,000 crore in the form of power that the company gives to the state.” While hydropower continues to be the major contributor (1912 MG) to the SJVN pool at the moment, wind and solar power generate 97.6 MW and 6.91 MW.

“The SJVN is in the process of harnessing power projects which are in different stages of development. These projects include 13 hydro projects, two solar and one thermal project, which will add 5574 MW capacity on completion,” said Sharma. Talking about their aim to have a 25,000 MW capacity by 2040, Sharma said they were on their way to achieve the milestone of having a capacity of 5,000 MW by 2022-23.