Fedders Lloyd, US-Based Invenergy In Talks For Wind Farm Venture

MUMBAI/AHMEDABAD: B R Punj-promoted Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd (FLC) is in the initial stage of discussions with US-based Invenergy LLC, a wind power generation company for developing wind farm projects in India and African countries like Tanzania and Kenya, a senior official of the company informed.
FLC is looking for an equity partnership with Invenergy for an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore for wind farms.
“We are considering a foray into wind farm business and have initiated talks with US-based Invenergy for a partnership. Besides India, inquiries have also started pouring in from African countries such as Tanzania and Kenya. This would attract investments to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore and we are looking for an equity partnership with the US firm,” said N D Jain, head-wind energy business, Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd.
The first round of negotiations with Invenergy was held earlier this year and the company expects to finalise the deal in the next round of talks, scheduled to take place in June 2012.
Listed on the Indian stock exchanges, FLC has operations for turnkey projects in the fields of infrastructure, power, refinery and railways. The company had recently announced its plans to invest Rs 200 crore in a phased manner for expanding its wind tower making facility at Bharuch in Gujarat.
As part of the first phase, FLC has invested Rs 100 crore at Bharuch facility to make 150 towers annually. The company has arranged funds for the project through bank finance. “The commercial production has started at the facility and the first tower is scheduled to be delivered this month end,” said Jain.
On April 13, Farooq Abdullah, union minister for new and renewable energy and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated new facility of FLC. The plant is capable of manufacturing wind turbine powers up to 3 megawatt (Mw) and heavy precision fabrication of components up to 80 tonnes.
The group has an annual turnover of Rs 2,500 crore and FLC contributes about Rs 700-800 crore towards total revenues of the group. The company’s orderbook for wind tower business is full for the next three years and is expected to contribute about 15 per cent to the total turnover of the company by the end of fiscal 2013.
According to Jain, in the Indian wind tower making business, only a few organised players are active thereby making a huge scope for tower business. The projected demand for wind towers in the country is huge.