Regional: Adani puts 6,500 MW expansion on hold

Indian utility Adani Power has put on hold its capacity expansion plans for 6,500 megawatt due to lack of clarity on coal supplies, Chief Executive Officer Ravi Sharma said on Tuesday as quoted by Indian media.

Adani earlier said it planned to increase its capacity to 16,500 MW, mostly in western India. At present, it operates about 2,000 MW but plans to have 6,000 MW capacity by March 2012.

Coal accounts for 55 per cent of India's power generation capacity of 182,344 megawatts.

The country holds 10 percent of the world's coal reserves, but power companies struggle to access local supplies due to environmental and land acquisition delays, forcing expensive imports from Indonesia and Australia.

Asia's third-largest economy, where blackouts are common, faces a peak power shortage of 13 percent as rising demand from industry, homes and shopping malls outstrips capacity growth, but investments into the power sector have been slowing. (*)