Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction has bagged a deal worth 2.8 trillion won ($2.3 billion) to build two coal-fired plants in India, the company said Monday.

Korea’s top equipment maker said its overseas corporation Doosan Power Systems India received the notice of award from the Uttar Pradesh provincial government to build the Obra-C coal power plant and Jawaharpur coal power plant in northern India. With each comprised of two 660-megawatt plants, the total production capacity of the power plants amounts to 2,640 megawatts, it said.
 
The company will be in charge of the full process from plant design to engineering, procurement and construction.

The construction of Obra-C is slated to be completed by October 2020 and Jawaharpur by February 2021.

Uttar Pradesh, where the Taj Mahal is located, is the largest province in the country which has a population of nearly 200 million.

India is an attractive market for construction companies, as coal power plants of a combined capacity of 18 gigawatts are projected to be ordered every year until 2020, it said. For the public projects, the Indian government has allowed the deals only with companies that have local production plants in India.

As part of the localization strategies, the Korean equipment maker took over an Indian company in 2011 and established Doosan Power Systems India. After clinching its first coal power plant deal in 2012, the overseas corporation won power plant orders worth about 5 trillion won in total over the past five years.

“The active localization strategies were effective as they focused on the Indian market’s growth potential and the provincial government which suffered unstable power supply,” said Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Executive Vice President Kim Hun-tak.

With the latest deal, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction drew orders worth over 9 trillion won this year, exceeding last year’s performance of about 8.5 trillion won.

After the coal power plant deal was made, the company’s stock price opened at 28,650 won on the Seoul bourse Monday, up by 2.32 percent from the previous session’s close.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)