US energy firm to invest $2.4 bn for solar power plants
By IANSFriday, October 8, 2010
NEW DELHI - US-based energy firm Bergamo Acquisition Corp Friday said it has entered into a joint venture with an Indian company to construct six solar thermal power plants of 100 MW capacity each with an investment of $400 million for every plant.
Bergamo will have 60 percent equity in the joint venture, while its local partner, the promoters of Esoft Informatics Private Ltd., an Indian software company, will hold the remaining stake.
“The venture will identify six Indian states for the first phase under which it will set up 100 MW solar thermal power plants, with an investment of $400 million in each plant,” said Hillard Herzog, president and chief executive of Bergamo Acquisition Corp.
The company plans to ramp up capacity to 1,000 MW eventually, added Herzog, who is in India to identify these locations.
The plants will require about 1 lakh squre of land.
Bergamo is also setting up a consumer-cum-retail division in India with an initial investment of Rs.1,000 crore to provide cost effective high quality solar products such as solar outdoor lights, street lights, solar water heaters. These products would be launched around the middle of November.
An Indian manufacturing facility for production of the solar products will be set up by March 2011.
A host of foreign and domestic companies have jumped into electricity generation through solar power after India announced a $19 billion “National Solar Mission” plan spread over 30 years, which aims to scale up solar power generation from nothing at present to 20 GW by 2020.
