Mumbai, Jan 25 (IANS): Reliance Power Friday announced a 30 percent rise in net profit for the quarter ended December 2012 year-on-year, beating street estimates.

The profit after tax (PAT) rose to Rs.266 crore as against Rs.204 crore in the like period a year ago.

The net profit was aided by record generation from the 1,200 MW Rosa power plant (Uttar Pradesh), J.P. Chalasani, company chief executive, said.

Sales increased to Rs.1,464 crore from Rs.457 crore year-on-year, while EBITDA jumped by 252 percent to Rs.493 crore.

The company's total income grew over two-fold at Rs.1,586 crore for the September-December period. It had reported a total income of Rs.674 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.

"The third quarter has proved to be an excellent one for the company as we turned in outstanding operational and financial numbers," Chalasani said

"Pre-commissioning activities have started at our 3,960 MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project and the project is all set to be commissioned in this quarter, well ahead of the bid schedule." Chalasani added.

The company said coal production has already begun from the Sasan project's other captive coal mines - the 20 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) Moher and Moher Amlori Extension mines.

The company's 40 MW Dhursar solar photo-voltaic plant in Rajasthan generated a record 15.2 MUs in this quarter which resulted in a net profit of Rs.12 crore.

It said said construction was on at the 100 MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project, a part of the government's National Solar Mission.in Dhursar, and the project is expected to be commissioned in first quarter of financial year 2014.

Work in the company's 45 MW wind project in Maharashtra is in its final stages, and the project is expected to be commissioned by the end of March.

Reliance Power shares were up 5.19 percent at Rs. 94.20 in late afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).