Bhel eyes foreign JV for thermal sets production

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel), the state owned heavy industry company, will shortly tie-up with a partner to manufacture 800 MW supercritical thermal sets in India. An announcement is expected next week.

"The collaboration will probably be with a foreign company" Santosh Mohan Dev, minister of state for heavy industries and public enterprises, said today.

The company is augmenting its existing capacity of manufacturing equipment at Haridwar and Tiruchirapalli, said Bhel Chairman and Managing Director, AK Puri. He added that the company would invest Rs 1,000 crore over the next two-and-a-half years.

He said once the technical collaboration with the foreign company was finalised, Bhel would start bidding for the 660 MW and 800 MW projects. Meanwhile, the ministry of heavy industry is in consultation with the power ministry to secure contracts for Bhel under the purchase preference policy.

"The first meeting with the power ministry was held on August 10. We are hopeful of getting fair share of contracts for Bhel," Priyadarshi Thakur, secretary, ministry of heavy industry and public enterprises said.

"The order book size of Bhel stands at Rs 30,000 crore, which is worth two years of work, but it has to get more projects. Power ministry has been supportive in this regard," Thakur said.

Bhel met 119 per cent of the targets set by the power ministry, while other power equipment companies could cover only 39 per cent, he added.