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Press Release

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

U.S. Small Business Uses OPIC Insurance to Install Additional Wind Turbine in India

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A U.S. small business will use political risk insurance from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to install a wind turbine in Maharashtra State in India – the second such renewable energy project supported by OPIC in the country in the last three months, OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

OPIC will provide $450,000 in insurance to Southern Energy Partners, LLC of Memphis, Tennessee for the installation of a 250-kilowatt wind turbine on a wind farm near Keral village in Maharashtra. The investment will be made through Southern’s local subsidiary, SEP Energy India. Electricity generated by the turbine will be sold to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company to provide electricity to largely rural areas in the state. A local manufacturer will produce the turbine.

Mosbacher announced in July that OPIC would provide $1.1 million in insurance to Southern Energy Partners for installation of a similar wind turbine in Tamil Nadu State in India.

The turbine projects support efforts by the Indian government, both federal and state, to encourage private investment in electricity generation and distribution, especially from non-conventional sources, including wind. Renewable energy already represents about 40 percent of the totaled installed capacity in the country, a figure that is expected to increase. At the end of 2006, India had the world’s fourth highest installed capacity of wind power, with 6,270 megawatts.

Maharashtra in particular is one of India's leading states in wind power generation, with an installed wind power capacity of 1,242 MW. An OPIC analysis for the project found that the state has the potential to generate 5000 MW of electricity through wind energy.

However, because investments in power generation have failed to keep pace with economic growth, India’s electricity sector has been characterized by inadequate capacity. Maharashtra, as the leading industrial state in India and consumer of about 15 percent of the total electricity in the country currently faces a power deficit that results in mandatory power cuts for eight to 19 hours per day in rural areas.


OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.  Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad.  OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

 

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.