Lanco Infra earmarks Rs 3,000 cr for solar power equipment unit

RAIPUR: Lanco Infratech today said it has earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for manufacturing solar power equipment from its facility here, which would be operational in the next three years.

The company today laid the foundation stone for establishing a solar power equipment manufacturing unit at Rajnandangaon near Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

"We would invest Rs 3,000 crore in two phases in Raipur for solar power equipment manufacturing," Chairman Lanco Infratech L Madhusudan Rao told reporters here adding that the unit would be functional in the next three years.

The company plans to invest about Rs 1,370 crore in the first phase of the project, which is likely to employ around 8,000 people at the time of its completion.

The project is being funded at a debt and equity ratio of 75:25, the company has already tied up the debt portion through a consortium of banks led by Axis Bank . The equity portion would be met through internal accruals.

The company would spend Rs 1,630 crore during the second phase of the unit.

Lanco Solar, a special purpose vehicle has been formed by Lanco Infratech for the purpose. This manufacturing unit is likely to make equipment that can generate 250 MW of solar power by 2014.

Lanco Infratech plans to list Lanco Solar on the capital market in 2-3 years time.

"In 2-3 years we hope that we can list Lanco Power," he said.

Rao said that the Group is restructuring the company to create a separate power holding company which plans to generate 15,000 MW by 2015 through all sources of energy -- coal, gas and hydro.

The current power generation capacity of Lanco Infratech is over 2,092 MW and over 12,800 MW is under construction.