Russia’s Rosatom eyes India allies to make power gear

MUMBAI: Russia’s state-run atomic energy company Rosatom is scouting for partners in India to set up power equipment manufacturing units through its subsidiary Atomenergomash, said a senior company official.

“We are not only looking for manufacturing nuclear equipment, but we are planning to also manufacture balance-of-plant equipment for conventional power plants,” said Vladimir Kashchenko, director general, Atomenergomash, through an interpreter. He did not reveal the investment planned for the Indian operations.

“We do not like to specify any individual company at the moment, but we are talking to leaders in the Indian market. We may also talk to younger companies with flexible manufacturing capability,” Mr Kashchenko said.

Talking at the sidelines of ‘India Nuclear Energy Summit 2010’, Mr Kashchenko said besides tapping the local market, the planned Indian manufacturing units would also export to Asia and Africa.

Atomenergomash was Nuclear Power Corporation of India’s supplier for two nuclear reactors of 1,000 mw each for the Tamil Nadu-based Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

To leverage on the potential in the nuclear power space in India, the company is in the process of setting up an office in the country by December. India is poised to raise its installed nuclear power generation capacity to about 63,000 mw by 2032 from 4,500 mw now, Sushil Kumar Shinde, union minister of power said at the event.