BHEL, Hardwar target: 600-800 Mw generators, turbines in 5 years

PSU to invest Rs 1,600cr for manufacturing higher capacity equipment.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) in Hardwar will invest Rs 1,600 crore in the next five years to enhance its capacity and deliver 600-800 Mw generators and steam turbines.

Currently, BHEL's Heavy Electrical Equipment Plant (HEEP) at Ranipur in Hardwar manufactures 200-500 Mw range generators and steam turbines for thermal plants.

Talking about its expansion plans, Group General Manager Anil Sachdev said the BHEL-Hardwar will have a capacity of 10,000 Mw in about three years.

"We have earmarked funds to the tune of Rs 1,600 crore to realise this target and we are also going in for production of high Mega-Watt sets of 600 mw and 800 mw," he said.

Last year, BHEL Hardwar manufactured 33 modules of steam turbines and the target for this year is 60. Eleven generators were manufactured in 2006, while 'Target 2007' is 16.

The public sector undertaking will start manufacturing of 600-800 Mw generators and steam turbines by 2008-09. BHEL's enhancement endeavours come at a time when the government has planned a capacity addition of 70,000 Mw in the Eleventh Plan.

The government's plan has also resulted in lot of activity in power generation business and hence, demand for power equipment has increased. The onset of 4,000 Mw ultra mega power projects (UMPP) is yet another reason for rise in demand for power equipment in the range of 600 Mw and 800 Mw.

"Already, we have facilities where majority of work of 800 MW can be done. Only the balancing facilities need to be installed, which would be ready soon," said Sachdev.

BHEL has a technological tie-up with Siemens for manufacturing these high Megawatt sets. However, this time the designs have been made by BHEL indigenously but they will need to be approved by Siemens.

"We are confident of our designs but our customers will be at ease one the designs are approved by Siemens,"says Sachdev.

BHEL share is 70 per cent in whole installed capacity in India, of which BHEL Hardwar's share is 45 per cent. The unit also has the capability to put up equipment of upto 1000 Mw capacity, suitable for thermal power generation, gas based and combined cycle power generation at HEEP.

The total headcount in Hardwar is 6,300 and now company is on a hiring spree because of a heavy order book. The BHEL-Hardwar contributes to 15-20 per cent of total turnover of BHEL.

In 2005-06 BHEL Hardwar reported a turonover of Rs 1,638 crore and this year, the target is to touch Rs 2,105 crore.