Nagarjuna Agrichem to divest wind power biz for Rs 30 crore

HYDERABAD: Agrochemicals maker Nagarjuna Agrichem on Monday said it has decided to sell off its entire wind power business for some Rs 30 crore as part of its strategy to consolidate on core business, said a top executive. The company's board has approved the proposal. The company has currently three wind turbine generator-based power plants each having 2.1 MW installed capacity located at Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, taking the combined installed capacity of to 6.3 MW with a plant load factor of 20-25%.

"We have entered into an agreement to divest the wind power business. However, I can’t share the details of the buyer at present. We are expecting a fare value at Rs 29-30 crore," said V.Vijay Shankar, managing director of Nagarjuna Agrichem.

"We have all our other facilities in AP. The wind power plants are in Tamil Nadu, which is not comfortable for us to oversee the operations," he told ET.

At present, the operations of these power plants are being managed by Suzlon and the performance of the plants was satisfactory. However, during the last financial year, there were delays in getting receivables from Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, which purchases the entire power generated as per the terms of the power purchase agreement. As per the court directives, interest was being paid for the delayed payments, the company said in its latest annual report.

In a statement, the company said its managing director will take the responsibility of entering into agreements with the potential buyers to acquire the wind power plants.