The country's largest power producer NTPC has issued a bulk tender for equipment with an estimated value of Rs 19,000 crore ($4.22 billion). NTPC expects to award contracts within nine to ten months, said Platts in its magazine 'Power in Asia'.
The bid was launched after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the tender for boilers and turbines for nine 800-megawatt (Mw) supercritical units. Two will be installed at Lara in Chhattisgarh, three at Kudgi in Karnataka, and two each at Darllipalli and Gajamara in Orissa state.
These will be the first 800-Mw units installed by NTPC, which owns nearly 20% of India's 167,000 Mw of grid connected capacity.
The biggest units NTPC has ordered hitherto are 660-Mw sets. And, as in its bulk tenders for boilers and turbines for eleven 660-Mw sets, the new bid requires that the equipment will eventually be manufactured in India, although imported kit will be allowed to start with.
The boilers and turbines are likely to be ordered separately as in the 660-Mw tenders. NTPC anticipates making substantial savings by ordering in bulk, possibly matching the price of equipment imported from China which has to date swept the Indian market for supercritical equipment.
Five joint ventures between Indian and foreign manufacturers are likely to bid for the projects. These include Bharat Forge with Alstom, Larsen & Toubro Power with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, BGR Energy with Hitachi, JSW with Toshiba, and Ansaldo Caldie Boilers India. The leading domestic manufacturer, Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel), is also expected to bid.
Meanwhile NTPC hit a legal obstacle just before price bids were opened on January 20 for the eleven 660-Mw boilers. Bhel, L&T Power-MHI, and BGRHitachi are left in the race after the disqualification of Ansaldo.
The boiler contract was re-tendered in 2010 after BHEL was left as the only contender in the original tender issued in October 2009. Keen to ensure competitive pricing, NTPC invited new offers in June 2010.
But before a decision can be made NTPC must sort out a legal dispute after Ansaldo petitioned the Delhi High Court.
NTPC had earlier expected to finalize the boiler contract by March 2011.
Bharat Forge-Alstom has already won the turbine contract, beating JSW-Toshiba and a consortium comprising Bhel and Siemens. Bhel may, however, get to supply some of the turbines if it can match the price quoted by the winner.
This condition is provided in the rules for both the boilers and turbines. And the protection afforded to Bhel for the 660-Mw units is likely to be extended to the 800-Mw tenders.
Nine of the eleven 660-Mw units will be installed at NTPC plants at Mouda and Solarpur in Maharashtra, Nabinagar in Bihar, and Meja in Uttar Pradesh.
The other two were tendered by BHEL on behalf of the government-controlled Damodar Valley Corporation for its Ragunathpura project in West Bengal.
The boilers and turbines for the 800-Mw and 660-Mw units are together estimated to cost about Rs 40,000 crore ($8.8 billion). About the same amount will be needed for the construction contracts and balance of plant packages.
The various projects will form a significant part of the 25,000 Mw of new capacity NTPC plans to install by March 2017. Five 660-Mw units are already being installed by NTPC.
