Abu Dhabi Company To Invest $1 Bn In Indian Power Plants.

The Abu Dhabi government-owned Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa) on Nov. 29 announced that it would invest up to $1 billion in a joint venture to build power plants in India, where electricity demand outstrips supply by as much as 10%. Taqa's venture with India's Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services will add a total of up to 7,000 MW to generating capacity in Asia's third-largest economy, Taqa chief executive Peter Barker-Homek said.

The power plants will be built in the next three to five years across India, where the government plans to invest 8 trillion rupees ($283 billion) by 2012 to add about 100,000 MW of power generating capacity. Barker-Homek said: "There will be up to $1 billion in equity from Taqa, and Infrastructure Leasing will invest alongside. We will identify power-deficient states to build independent power plants in the coming months".

Less than half of India's 138.27 million rural homes have power. With economic growth surging, electricity demand in the country of more than 1 billion people exceeds supply by 10% during peak hours.

Infrastructure Leasing said in a joint statement that investments with Taqa would include a 750 MW gas-fired power project in Tripura state in north-eastern India.

India was one of the countries Taqa cited when it announced in October it was planning to make energy acquisitions worth up to $3.5 billion in the next two years. Taqa, which has controlling stakes in five power and water stations in Abu Dhabi, said earlier it would buy the Dutch gas exploration and production assets of BP for $694 million.