Japan's Chubu Elec to buy stake in India's OMC Power

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Chubu Electric Power Co Inc said on Tuesday it will spend up to 5 billion yen ($39 million) to buy a 20% stake in India's rural renewable energy service company, OMC Power Private Ltd, through a third-party allotment of shares.

OMC operates about 280 renewable energy plants to provide electricity for telecom companies, small and medium businesses and rural houses via mini-grids, using storage batteries, in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It aims to expand its network to 5,000 power plants by 2030, the Japanese company said.

Chubu Electric aims to contribute to OMC, in which Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co also has a stake, by leveraging its operation and maintenance skills for power generation, transmission and distribution, it said.

Last November, the utility said it plans to make strategic investments of 1 trillion yen ($7.8 billion) over the 10 years through 2030, mainly in overseas and renewable energy, to achieve its 2030 recurring profit goal of 250 billion yen.

($1 = 127.9500 yen)

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)