Bulk order for supercritical equipment open to companies with domestic manufacturing facilities.
In what would provide a major stimulus to the domestic power equipment sector, a bulk order for supercritical power equipment worth an estimated Rs 21,000 crore is likely to be thrown open for bidding later this month, officials said.
Only companies with domestic manufacturing facilities are eligible to bid since the aim is to boost domestic capabilities of manufacturing supercritical equipment which typically delivers more power per unit of coal.
The order bunches together demand of nine units from NTPC, the country’s largest power generator, and two units for Damodar Valley Corporation of 660 Mw each.
The bidding will be for the main plant equipment (boiler-turbine-generator). Balance plant equipment (like coal handling plants and ash handling plants) worth Rs 15,000 crore will need to be ordered separately. The total value of the orders will thus be over Rs 36,000 crore.
| POWER BOOSTER |
| * Bulk order for supercritical equipment worth Rs 21,000 crore to be thrown open for bidding later this month |
| * Order for 11 units of 660 Mw each, aimed at transfer of supercritical technology |
| * Only companies with domestic manufacturing facilities will be eligible to bid |
| * Balance plant equipment for these units worth Rs 15,000 crore will also be ordered separately |
This is the first time that such a bulk order is being placed. If it works out well, the same route will be used to order larger sized supercritical units of 800 Mw, officials said.
Companies that are eligible to bid are the government-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), Larsen & Toubro in a joint venture with MHI, JSW in a venture with Toshiba, Bharat Forge with Alstom and Ansaldo with GB Engineering.
While BHEL has an equipment manufacturing capacity of 10,000 Mw, which will be ramped up to 15,000 Mw by the end of the year, the manufacturing facilities of the other players are still coming up.
“The idea is to split the order between the lowest cost supplier (L1) and the next lowest (L2 and L3) if they match the lowest price,” said a senior Central Electricity Authority (CEA) official associated with the process.
The government is pushing for supercritical units and has mandated their use in the ultra mega power plants being rolled out. These plants have a capacity of 4,000 Mw each.
Almost half of the 140 thermal (coal-based) units planned to be constructed in the 12th Plan period (2012-17) — where the targeted capacity addition is 100,000 Mw — will be of the supercritical variety.
The Chinese equipment manufacturers are effectively barred from bidding since they have no manufacturing facilities in the country. Concerns have also been raised about the quality and efficacy of Chinese equipment in harsher Indian conditions, where high-ash coal is used.
However, a recent study by the CEA, which went into the “design features of boilers and auxiliaries being sourced from Chinese manufacturers” pretty much gave a clean chit to the Chinese companies.
According to the report, which is available on the CEA website, over 20,000 Mw of capacity commissioned or under construction in the country involves the use of Chinese equipment.
