Indian renewable power producer Mytrah Energy made a pre-tax loss in the first half of 2015 whilst making progress towards new construction projects.
Mytrah made an pre-tax loss of $2.46million, compared with a $5.9million profit for the same time last year. This reflected higher finance costs on the build-up of new assets.
Underlying earnings before tax for the period amounted to $30.3million, an increase of 8.2% over the comparative period in 2014.
Mytrah’s portfolio comprises of 543MW of operating wind farms spread across 10 projects in six states. 200MW of assets in construction are on track for the 2016 wind season.
Ravi Kailas, chairman and chief executive said: “From a standing start just 4.5 years ago, Mytrah has grown to be one of the largest wind independent power producers in India. The first half of 2015 has seen commissioning of 14.5MW to bring our operating capacity to 543MW and excellent progress on our new projects in construction.
As part of the capacity expansion, Mytrah has formed new relationships with wind turbine manufactures General Electric and Inox Wind.
Kailas added: “Our operating portfolio is performing well technically, with some plants exceeding 99% mechanical availability. The wind season started more slowly than expected, but we have seen improvement post period end and expect that this will continue through the remainder of the year.”
A widely publicised Government target, aiming for 170GW for wind and solar capacity by 2022, has attracted international players to the market, raising the profile of Indian renewables globally.
The declining cost of solar toward parity with other technologies has led Mytrah to consider stepping in to the sector, provided that it does not compromise returns.