Larsen and Toubro plans to sell its non-core assets

Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is planning to sell its non-core assets, including the 1,400 megawatt (MW) Nabha thermal power project in Punjab, the Hyderabad Metro, and L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited (L&T IDPL), a subsidiary with road projects and power transmission lines. The proposed sale comes at a time when environmental, sustainability, and governance are becoming increasingly important. The sale of its 99 MW hydropower plant to ReNew Power was also announced in the statement. The Singoli Bhatwari Hydroelectric Project (SBHEP) in Uttarakhand was acquired from L&T Power Development Limited earlier this year, marking ReNew Power's first foray into the hydropower generation space. Given that coal-fired electricity generation remains the backbone of India's power mix, this is significant. Coal-fired power plants account for 53% of the country's total installed power generation capacity of 202.67 GW. This comes after ReNew Power Private Limited completed its merger with RMG Acquisition Corp II (RMG II), a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The new entity, ReNew Energy Global Plc, has an enterprise value of around $8 billion and an equity value of $4.4 billion as a result of the merger. Hydropower projects are gaining traction among India's clean energy giants. Greenko, based in Hyderabad, has a 7.3 GW operational portfolio and is building power storage projects with an 8 GW capacity across six Indian states as part of its plan to provide on-demand power. India also plans to issue a policy to promote hydro pump storage schemes shortly, with a potential capacity of around 96 GW identified. The plan is to raise water to a certain height during off-peak hours, then release it into a lower reservoir to generate electricity. Pump storage aids the national power grid in coping with fluctuations caused by intermittent solar and wind power. Image Source Also read: NIIF negotiates with L&T to invest Rs 4k cr in Hyderabad metro Also read: Larsen and Toubro achieved consolidated revenues of Rs 29,335 crore