Reliance Power, China Datang Corporation form operation and maintenance joint venture

NEW DELHI: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power has entered into a partnership with China’s state-owned China Datang Corporation for offering operation and maintenance services to power plants in India and overseas, people close to the development said.

The joint venture would particularly target coal-based power projects built on Chinese equipment. China Datang is a power generation company with an installed capacity of 105,000 MW, over 50% of India’s total generation capacity, and employs about 98,000 people.

An emailed query to Reliance Power went unanswered. The scrip closed down 1.52% on the BSE on Thursday. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore possibilities of joint investment in Indian and international power and coal mining projects, these people said.

The scope of the preliminary agreement includes setting up a joint venture in India to offer operation and maintenance services to power plants and China Datang assisting Reliance Power in commissioning projects including the 4,000 MW ultra mega power project at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, they said.

Reliance Power has a portfolio of about 20,000 MW coalbased projects under construction. Equipment for Sasan project was sourced from Shanghai Electric.

“Under the MoU, China Datang will also explore possibility of investing and developing Reliance Power’s three coal mines in Indonesia and laying the transportation infrastructure. China Datang may also offtake coal from the Indonesian mines,” one of the persons referred to earlier said.

Reliance Power had in 2010 acquired two coal companies in Indonesia, which own three coal mines located in South Sumatra. It plans to invest over $5 billion in developing mining infrastructure in Indonesia.