US Exim nod for R-Power’s Rs 1,540 crore gear sale to Bangladesh projects

NEW DELHI: The US Exim Bank has allowed Reliance Power subsidiary Samalkot Power Ltd to sell for Rs 1,540 crore a module generation equipment to South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation, the contractor for the company’s gas-based power project in Bangladesh, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The clearance coincides with financial closure with multilateral lenders Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the 745 MW (megawatts) project R-Power is building in joint venture with Japan’s JERA Co at Meghnaghat near Dhaka.
“All requisite conditions for availing drawdown under the loan agreements have been satisfied,” the company statement said.
R-Power had imported the generation module for a proposed power plant based on gas from Reliance Industries Ltd’s KG-D6 block off the Andhra coast. But the plan was shelved after output from the field fell way short of RIL’s projections and imported gas proved too unremunerative for producing power.
The module is covered under guarantees of the original equipment suppliers.
R-Power, a part of the Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, has one of the largest portfolios of private sector power projects based on coal, gas and renewable energy. It has an operating portfolio of 5,945 MW.