Profile
A pioneer in the Indian power sector, Tata Power (TPL) is one of India’s largest energy utilities. Started as the Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company in 1911, it is an amalgamation of two entities: Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company, Andhra Valley Power Supply Company (1916).
TPL provides services in power generation, distribution and transmission; oil and gas; and broadband and communications. The company has big overseas power projects in a number of countries, including the UAE, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria. It has also undertaken projects in power plant / utility operations and management in Saudi Arabia, Liberia, Iran, Sierra Leone and Algeria.
Areas of business
Power expertise services
- Setting up independent power plants (lPPs) and captive power plants (CPPs), and executing power transmission and distribution projects.
- Operation and maintenance services.
- ‘Remnant life assessment’ and ‘performance evaluation services’ of power plant equipment.
- In overseas projects, erection, testing, commissioning and trial operations.
- In power plant / utility operations, management and plant operators’ training projects (in India and abroad).
Oil and gas
Through Tata Petrodyne, a wholly owned subsidiary, TPL engages in oil and gas exploration and production. It is part of consortia comprising leading oil and gas companies like Cairn Energy, Enron, Hardy Exploration & Production, ONGC and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company for gas and oil exploration and development projects in three offshore blocks. These are: two gas blocks in the Gulf of Cambay, and one oil block in the Cauvery basin, Tamil Nadu.
Broadband and communications
TPL is poised to exploit the potential of the exponentially growing broadband business in Mumbai, which accounts for 30 per cent of the India’s Internet traffic. Tata Power already has an optic fibre network of 600 km in the city. Additionally, it has ‘right of way’ in an additional 1,200 km in Mumbai. Tata Power’s optic fibre network covers all of Greater Mumbai, including commercial, residential and industrial centres.
TPL is spearheading the Tata Group’s thrust into broadband, and will coordinate its activities with other Group companies to exploit the sector’s potential, with the objective being to provide high-quality, wide-spectrum broadband services. The company also has plans to set up its own Internet gateways. TPL is aiming to expand its broadband operations to a national level in the next few years. Its national broadband network will link major cities within the country, and have a greater presence in high-value states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Subsidiaries
- The Strategic Electronics Division
- Tata Power Broadband Company
- Tata Power Trading Company
- Tata Ceramics
Community initiatives
- Eco-restoration and eco-development: TPL is involved in a variety of endeavours in this area. These include pisciculture — including a well-recognised mahseer conservation project — developing public spaces; environmental education; environmental research activities; and water conservation.
- Fish farming: As a part of its rural development thrust, the company releases over 100,000 fish fingerlings every year in village ponds in different parts of India, and provides advice on their cultivation and growth. The money garnered from selling the fish is used to promote multi-directional village development schemes.
- Medical aid and healthcare: TPL’s medical officers extend free medical facilities and medicines to local people from the villages adjoining the company’s generating stations. Over 4,000 villagers from 40 villages avail of these facilities every month. It conducts eradication drives, health and sanitation activities, organises regular immunisation camps and runs childcare clinics.
- Education: More than 460 children are studying in schools established by TPL.
- Disaster relief: The company and its employees have consistently lent their hand to the needy in times of natural disasters and other emergencies.
Locations
TPL owns, operates and maintains a unique mix of thermal and hydroelectric power plants. The hydroelectric plants are in Khopoli, Bhivpuri and Bhira (all in Maharashtra), and the thermal power plants are in Trombay (Maharashtra), Wadi and Belgaum (Karnataka), and Jojobera (Jharkhand).
