SJVN signs loan agreement of Rs 494 cr for 66 MW Dhaulasidh HEP

• SJVN's Dhaulasidh HEP has already commenced its construction activities since May 2021
• It is expected to generate 304 Million Units of electricity from FY 2025-26 at a levelised tariff of 4.46/Kwh

New Delhi: State-run SJVN Ltd has signed a loan agreement amounting to Rs 494 crore with Himachal Pradesh State Co-Operative Bank for the development of 66 MW Dhaulasidh Hydro-electric Project (HEP), said the Miniratna PSU on Monday. In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, SJVN said, "In compliance with regulation 30 of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, this is to inform you that the Company has achieved financial closure by signing of loan agreement amounting to 494.00 Crores with Himachal Pradesh State Co-Operative Bank for development of 66 MW Dhaulasidh REP ("DSHEP") coming under Hamirpur and Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh (sic.)."

Dhaulasidh HEP to generate electricity at Rs 4.46/Kwh

The project has already commenced its construction activities since May 2021. It is "moving fast forward to generate 304 Million Units in a 90 percent dependable year of clean Hydro Power from FY 2025-26 with a levelised tariff of 4.46/Kwh. The total project cost of Rs 688 crores of DSHEP has to be financed through a Debt Equity Ratio of 80:20 (sic.)," said SJVN.

The government had approved the investment proposal for the 66 MW Dhaulasidh HEP in October 2020. SJVN Limited's Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Nand Lal Sharma had inaugurated the river diversion arrangement of the 66 MW Dhaulasidh Hydro Electric project at Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, on February 15. 

Background

The 66 MW Dhaulasidh Hydro-electric project is a run of river scheme on river Beas at Dhaulasidh in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh. It is being implemented on a build-own-operate-maintain basis. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 687 crores. 

India is planning to add 29.33 GW of hydropower through 70 Hydro-electric Projects (HEPs) between 2021-22 and 2029-30, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh had said in the Parliament in February this year. These 70 HEPs are spread across 18 states — Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Odisha and Nagaland, data shared by the minister in the House showed.

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