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to the port of St Petersburg for onward shipment India’s NPCIL currently has ambitious plans
to India for the main coolant pipeline (MCP) for to begin building 9,000 MW of new nuclear
the fourth 1,000-MW unit at Kudankulam. capacity in the coming years in a bid to meet
Rosatom said that an MCP set comprises 16 demand from industry and to help provide uni-
pipe spools. The total weight of the shipment versal access to power.
is more than 347 tonnes, and the net weight is This includes Units 5 and 6 at Kudankulam,
about 253.5 tonnes. which are Light Water Reactors [LWRs], using
“During the month of August, the entire Russian VVER technology.
set will be shipped from Petrozavodsk to Saint NPCIL currently operates 22 reactors across
Petersburg sea port, via motor transport, for India with 6,780 MW of total installed capacity.
loading on to a ship,” it said. India aims to have 22,500 MW of nuclear
The MCP has been designed for coolant cir- capacity by 2031. As well as Russian technology,
culation at a temperature of up to 320 degrees India also uses French and Chinese hardware, as
Celsius and at a high pressure of about 160 well as indigenous reactor designs.
atmospheres.
RENEWABLES
Iberdrola succeeds in
friendly Infigen takeover
AUSTRALIA IBERDROLA said on August 6 that it had suc- capacity in Australia, including the 140-MW
ceeded in its friendly takeover of Australia’s Capital wind farm in New South Wales.
Infigen Energy, confirming in a statement to Infigen was previously known as Babcock &
the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that it Brown Wind Partners and emerged from Bab-
now owns 52.75% of Infigen’s shares. cock & Brown Group.
The board of Infigen Energy also said in a Iberdrola is already building a 320MW wind
statement to the ASX that Iberdrola had effec- and solar hybrid project in South Australia
tively gained control of the company. through a A$500mn ($345mn) investment. It
“Iberdrola may now nominate a majority of also owns 350 MW of wind and solar projects in
board members to the board of Infigen Energy, Queensland and South Australia.
subject to there being two independent direc- It currently operates 18GW of wind capacity
tors… until Iberdrola acquires all [Infigen’s worldwide.
shares],” Infigen Energy said in a statement. The Spanish-owned company, which is now
The Infigen had previously recommended to the world’s largest wind operator, aims to invest
its shareholders that they accept Iberdrola’s $0.92 EUR10bn ($11bn) in 2020 in new acquisitions
(A$0.86) per share offer for the company, say- and existing wind projects.
ing that it represents value for money for share- Australia’s renewables market has been under
holders. Infigen Energy shares had been trading pressure lately, with low wholesale electricity
below $0.60 per share immediately before the prices and falling renewable energy certificate
announcement of the takeover offers in June. prices.
Infigen said that its net earnings for the Investment dipped in 2019 as the federal
fourth quarter of the 2019-20 financial year government’s programme of incentives for large-
had fallen by 26%, representing a $16.4mn scale renewables projects expired, and Canberra
drop in the three-month period. Following the has not put firm plans in place to succeed it.
weaker result, Infigen suspended the payment Infigen and other green operators in Aus-
of dividends. tralia have faced problems in connecting their
The takeover also saw Iberdrola outbid a less wind and solar projects to the country’s frag-
friendly attempt by the Philippines’ UAC Energy mented national grid, and its share price has
Holdings. fallen in recent months.
Infigen owns more than 1 GW of wind
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 32 12•August•2020
