Several overseas power utilities including Electricité de France SA (EDF), GDF Suez SA, Germany’s E.ON AG, are actively scouting for stakes in Indian power projects, seeking to derive value from stressed assets, said people familiar with the development.
 
 EvenTokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), and Malaysian state fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd are also searching to buy stake in Indian power projects.  
 
 Signalling their seriousness of intent, these companies are preparing to award mandates to Indian consultants for potential purchases at a time when the Indian sector has shown signs of consolidation, driven by high fuel costs and low capacity utilisation that have built up financial stress on power utilities.
 
 The assets are at a stage when they can be called stressed, said a New Delhi-based power sector analyst. The foreign players want technical and commercial assistance to acquire them. Some of the firms are EDF, GDF, E.ON, Tepco, Kepco and Khazanah, he added. 
 
 India is facing its worst coal shortage, causing power projects to run on minimal supplies of the fuel. Power projects have been the worst hit by falling coal production as they are the biggest consumer of the fuel, absorbing 78 per cent of domestic output. It takes around 5,000 tonne of coal to generate 1 megawatt of power.