Finnish solar firm Fortum ropes in former Tata Power executive Sanjay Aggarwal for India venture

Finnish energy company Fortum, which recently acquired a 5-MW photovoltaic solar power plant in Rajasthan, today announced the appointment of Sanjay Aggarwal, a former executive of Tata Power, as the managing director of Fortum India.

Sanjay Aggarwal, a former executive of Tata Power, has worked for Finnish company Wartsila, ABB and Thermax.

The Finnish energy major has big ambitions in India's solar energy field and has proposed to initially invesr around Euro 250 millon in solar energy project in the country.

Fortum's former managing director, Maati Kaarnakari, had said that the company was open to investing even up to Euro 250 million in solar energy in India. The company is also open to acquire operating solar plants, he had said.

The proposed solar power plant in Rajasthan will have a nominal peak capacity is 5.4 megawatts and its annual production is nearly 9 gigawatt hours. The power plant was constructed as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.

The plant will receive a higher, guaranteed electricity price for 25 years. The period and the prices for power generation under the government's power purchase agreement (PPA) are defined to ensure a sufficient return on investment, the company said in a statement.

 ''Solar power is a strong growth segment that will account for an increasing part of power generation in the future.

''Fast technological development is boosting competitiveness and on best markets, wholesale parity can be expected already within a few years' time,'' according to Kaarnakari.

Fortum's had reported sales of €6.1 billion and operating profit of €1.6 billion last year.