Skoda to set up turbine facility

Czech power company Skoda Power AS is setting up a turbine manufacturing facility at Hyderabad, India, at an investment of around Rs2,000 crores (US$510 million). The facility, to be set up in four phases, will be completed by 2011 and would help the power generation sector, as India has been coping with shortfalls in power generation equipment. Largely as a result of such shortfalls, India is expected to miss its target of adding 78,577 MW of power generation capacity by 2012. India has an existing power generation capacity of 135,006 MW. The work on Skoda’s Hyderabad facility has already started and the first phase is expected to be completed by April. The factory will also manufacture power equipment, such as casings and auxiliaries. (September 19, 2007)