Exclusive News

Simarpreet Singh, Director, Strategy, Hartek Group is of the opinion that the refinancing or the bond opportunity in the power sector in view of 14,000 circuit km of the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) present a Rs 300 billion refinancing opportunity for the bond market over the next four years.

The evacuation for the wind power projects can be resolved through better planning and co-ordination amongst various agencies, i.e., PGCIL, SECI, NTPC, MNRE and MoP. It is important that evacuation issues are addressed before bidding for the renewable power projects starts, instead of solving the issue after bidding, says Salil Garg, Director-Corporate, India Ratings.

Ved Mani Tiwari, Chief Executive Officer (Global Infra Business), Sterlite Power Transmission, believes that transmission projects offer a significant change in risk profile, post the commissioning of projects on account of low collection risks and these projects generally get a priority in funding over other infrastructure projects.

Amidst the chaos seen in the power sector, with 22,000 MW thermal power projects lying idle for the need of coal or gas and lenders taking power generating assets to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to recover dues, the transmission sector- with longer life cycle and lower risks- has exhibited the only ray of hope for investors and developers alike.

Private firms in the sector are keen on becoming integrated players by investing in the transmission sector, where the rate of return is on a par with the generation sector (around 16 per cent).