GE Energy Financial Services India has invested Rs 257 crore in the hydro-power project that is developed by Gati Infrastructure in Sikkim. The investment was made through a share subscription agreement, according to Gati. Gati Infrastructure, the energy initiative of Mahendra Agarwal, founder and CEO of Gati, has developed the 110-megawatt Chuzachen hydro-electric project in east Sikkim to harness the water flow from the rivers Rangpo and Rongli.    

The project was commissioned in May. The run-of-river hydel project has turbines and generators from Alstom India. The project, built at a cost of Rs 1,188 crore, is the first one of such size under private ownership in the North East. IDFC is the lead financier with a loan at the project level.    

Capital Fortunes, Hyderabad, is the advisors and sole arranger. Mahendra Agarwal said that Sikkim is a growing economy in the North-East with average rainfall higher than in several other Himalayan States. With glacial melt and the perennial rivers, Sikkim has a peak potential capacity of 8,000 megawatts of hydro-electric power, he added.