US firm to invest 2 billion dollars in India's renewable power sector

New Delhi, July 24 : Renewable energy player Astonfield will invest around 2 billion dollars in India over the next five years to generate about 1,000 MW of power, most of it from solar sources, a top official said Friday.

"We are going to make an announcement in the next 30-60 days. It will be a billion dollar initial investment on photo-valtics," said Ameet Shah, co-chairman of Astonfield Renewable Resources.

Photo-valtics technology is being used to generate solar energy.

Astonfield Renewable is the Indian unit of the US-based infrastructure major Astonfield Management.

Much of the proposed $2 billion investment will be for building solar-powered projects with a capacity of 500 MW, he said.

"It will be the largest single investment in the renewable energy sector in India," Shah added.

The company will also bring a solution to ensure that the energy produced from these solar plants will be fed into its electricity grid on a consistent basis.

This will come in handy in many places where the grid has a tendency to break down, which will result in power losses.

Astonfield has also announced an agreement with French energy major Areva for building biomass power generated plants of 100 MW at an estimated cost of Rs.550-630 crore.

While Astonfield will invest about 60 percent of the amount, Areva will contribute the rest. Work on the first project of 10 MW is slated to come online in Gangarampur in West Bengal by the last quarter of 2009.

Astonfield is also planning a 54 MW power project which will generate electricity using municipal solid waste in Kolkata.