Adani Transmission wins project to develop a 400 kV substation in Mumbai

Adani Transmission on Saturday said it has won a project to develop a 400 kV substation facility in Mumbai.

The project is likely to ease transmission congestion and carry more power to meet the city’s future electricity needs.

“Adani Transmission (ATL) has received a Letter of Intent from the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company (MSETCL) to build, own, operate and maintain a transmission project in Maharashtra for 35 years,” the company stated.

The project involves developing Mumbai’s first ever 400 kV substation facility. The project has been awarded through a tariff-based competitive bidding process.

The project — Kharghar Vikhroli Transmission — comprises approximately 34 km of 400 kV and 220 kV transmission lines, along with a 400kV GIS Substation at Vikhroli. In less than two years, ATL has created a significant presence in Mumbai’s power segment.

In August last year, the firm had bought Reliance Infrastructure’s Mumbai power distribution business for Rs 12,100 crore. At present, ATL caters to 3 million customers in Mumbai through its distribution business. The company expects the Kharghar Vikhroli Transmission project to help carry more power into the city.

“This project is critical to Mumbai, as the existing capacity of transmission corridor is not sufficient to carry further power into the city. This project will enable additional power to be brought into Mumbai,” ATL said in its statement.

ATL’s newly won project is also expected to bring down Mumbai’s cost of power. “(The project will)….also allow additional source of power and bring down the cost of power for the citizens of Mumbai,” the statement said.

Earlier this week, it agreed to sell 25.1 per cent stake in its Mumbai power distribution business to Qatar Investment Authority for Rs 3,200 crore. Part of the sale agreement also requires ATL to distribute 30 per cent green power through its Mumbai distribution business by 2023.

At present, ATL operates a cumulative transmission network of around 11,477 circuit kilometres (ckm) and has another 3,261 ckm at various stages of construction. Its market share in Mumbai’s power distribution business is approximately 87 per cent by licence area, and 55 per cent by electricity supplied.

Adani Transmission hits fresh all-time high; stock surges 30% in a week

Shares of Adani Transmission hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 341, up 10 per cent on the BSE on Monday in an otherwise range-bound market after the company announced buyback of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) worth Rs 135 crore.

The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 317, recorded on Friday in intra-day trade. In the past week, the stock has rallied 30 per cent as compared to 0.22 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Company has bought back 1,350 rated, listed, secured, redeemable, NCDs having face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 135 crore on November 29, 2019," Adani Transmission said in a regulatory filing on Saturday.

Earlier, on November 25, the company said it had bought back 1,550 rated, listed, secured, redeemable, NCDs having face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 155 crore.

Adani Transmission delivered strong financial performance in Q2, with operational EBITDA of Rs 1,082 crore, up 63 per cent, and consolidated profit after tax of Rs 230 crore, up 82 per cent year-on-year.

This was driven by robust growth and superlative operational performance. With a growing economy, the demand for power has also increased rapidly over the years.

The management said toward this effort, the company’s focus in FY19-20 has been in expanding grid network and investing in technological advancements that will supply power to deficit parts of the country. The company’s recent acquisitions will make it the country’s largest private sector transmission company in India, it added.

At 11:37 am, the stock was up 8 per cent at Rs 336, as compared to 0.25 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jumped nearly four-fold with a combined 1.7 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE so far.