OREANDA-NEWS. January 16, 2015. China Light & Power, China's leading power generation company, is looking to invest more than USD 2 billion to build around 1,5002,000 mw of coal-based power plant in Gujarat, a senior company executive told ET.

"We are going to sign the memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government on the coal-based power plant," Richard Lancaster, chief executive officer of CLP, said on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015.

The coal-based power plant will come along the gas-based power unit that the company already has in Gujarat, Lancaster said. The company currently has an operational 655 mw combined cycle gas-fired power plant in Gujarat's Bharuch district.

"We will be investing around USD 2 billion in this plant. Currently, we are carrying out a feasibility study right now," Lancaster said. "We have access to imported coal in Gujarat and are keen on making further investment in coal-based assets in India."

CLP has been steadily growing in India in the past decade.It has a 1,320 mw supercritical coal-fired power plant in Haryana and half a dozen other sub-100 mw plants in various other states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The company has been looking for inorganic growth in India for the past 3-4 years. However, high valuations and regulatory hurdles have forced the company to stick to the organic growth path. "We have realised we can add more value when we build assets ourselves," Lancaster said when asked about CLPs acquisition plans in India.

The company is alternatively scanning for opportunities in the solar and wind power generation in India. Access to land and the process to acquire it, however, remains a concern in India apart from the various other regulatory challenges.

"As a private investor, regulatory certainty is important to us and so is the access to fuel," Lancaster said on his first visit to Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

While there are half a dozen ultra mega power projects in Gujarat, Lancaster does not consider it as a risk. "Since Gujarat exports power to other states and since the transmission mechanism is in place, it is no risk," he said.