JSW Energy scouting for coal block in South Africa and Indonesia

JSW Energy, holding company for the JSW group’s power business, is scouting for coal blocks in South Africa (SA) and Indonesia as it looks to secure fuel supplies for its power plants in India. The company is looking to buy an operating stake in a significant coal block, but it has not finalized upon on any particular asset. However, if the company acquires a block in South Africa, it would hold a 74% stake in accordance with the country’s regulatory requirements.

India’s power producers, such as Tata Power, JSW and Adani, have been eyeing international assets to source coal for local power plants, as stagnating production at state miner Coal India has led to fuel scarcity in the country.

JSW Energy is the holding company for the JSW group’s power business having operational capacity of 2,600 Mega-Watts (MW, consolidated) as of March 31, 2012. Additional 540 MW of generating capacity at Barmer is under implementation (unit 5 to 8) and is expected to commence operations by December 2012.