$917 mn finance for Madhya Pradesh power plant

WASHINGTON - The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) has approved a $917 million export finance guarantee to support US exports to the Sasan Power Ltd coal-fired power plant in Madhya Pradesh.

US vendors including Bucyrus International, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin will sell and export mining and associated equipment to Sasan Power for the 3,960-megawatt power plant.

According to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, the project will support approximately 1,000 jobs at Bucyrus and its suppliers throughout the United States.

The Bank approval followed a thorough, three-month financial, technical and environmental due diligence review conducted by Bank specialists.

In July, Reliance Power Ltd, the owner of Sasan Power, signed a memorandum of understanding with Ex-Im Bank indicating its commitment to build a new 250-megawatt renewable energy facility, which will rank among the largest renewable energy projects in India.

Moreover, the Sasan project will comply with Ex-Im’s new environmental guidelines that limit carbon emissions to 850 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour.

“The board’s approval of the Sasan power project resulted from carefully balancing the need to support American jobs and energy exports, while simultaneously encouraging development of renewable energy facilities,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.

“We are pleased that Reliance Power, under the leadership of Anil Ambani, is taking steps to reduce the environmental effects of their activities and has long term plans which include power production with renewable energy alternatives.”

Ex-Im, an independent, self-sustaining federal agency, provides export financing, strengthens US export competitiveness, and helps create and maintain US jobs, the Bank said.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)