While the Israel Electric Corporation workers battle the government over the utility's future privatization, the power company's management has moved on and is mulling the company's expansion opportunities overseas.
Among its plans are to plan and build a power production facility in India, TheMarker has learned.
The plant in question would be a giant coal-firing one, producing massive capacity of 3,500 megawatts, or a third of the entire capacity of the state of Israel.
The project would probably cost India between $8 billion to $10 billion, while the IEC stands to make hundreds of millions of shekels on the deal.
On Tuesday the CEO of the IEC, Uri Ben-Noon, wrote a letter to the Infrastructures minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, asking for the state's blessing to join the project. The IEC is a government company and therefore requires the state's permission.
If the negotiations succeed, the IEC will plan the plant and run it for five years, employing 5,000 people.
The proposed site for the plant is Krishnapatnam, a village in the Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh, in eastern India. Representatives of the local Indian power utility will be visiting Israel next week, to meet with Ben-Eliezer and with the IEC management.
The IEC as cast its eyes abroad mainly because the management believes the coming reform will reduce its operations in Israel, but leave it with breathing room to expand abroad.
The IEC commented that the whole issue is very preliminary at this stage, and is undergoing investigation by the Infrastructure Ministry and the company itself.
The ministry commented that the IEC did ask for permission to participate in the project.
