Alstom Bharat Forge Power Ltd, a joint venture of France's Alstom and Bharat Forge, has commenced production at its new Rs 1,350-crore manufacturing facility at Sanand in Gujarat for making supercritical turbines and generators.
Set up over an area of 185,000 square meters, the site boasts of an annual capacity of 4000 MW and producing equipment for several major power projects in India, the company said in a statement here.
Alstom holds 51 per cent share in the joint venture while Bharat Forge holds the remaining 49 per cent.
The factory employs more than 250 highly skilled manpower and plans are afoot to ramp it up to 650 in the near future.
"The start of production at Sanand in a record time of 17 months, after the first excavation works, were kicked off in November 2013 and is a major construction and commissioning achievement in greenfield manufacturing facilities.
"The manufacturing facility incorporates stringent manufacturing processes and practices to ensure high level of reliability, performance and quality for the goods supplied out of the factory," the statement said.
The first production from the new plant will be related to major power projects in India with the first deliveries planned in current calendar year, it said.
Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge Ltd, said, "The commencement of operations of the facility in Gujarat is the first of many milestones for the Joint Venture and we believe it will be a cornerstone in the 'Make In India' initiative of the Government of India. This reaffirms our commitment to strengthening India's infrastructure backbone in the years ahead."
Alain Spohr, CEO & Managing Director, Alstom-Bharat Forge Power Ltd, said, "Alstom and Bharat Forge are delighted to be announcing the commencement of operations at its manufacturing facility in Gujarat and support the Indian Government's vision to promote supercritical and ultra-supercritical technology."
Alstom's supercritical technology uses steam with very high temperatures and pressure, resulting in a much higher efficiency than conventional subcritical coal-fired plants. This means that a supercritical unit burns much less coal, generating less emission per megawatt of power output.
Alstom is already engaged in the evolution towards ultra-supercritical technology, with 10 ultra-supercritical units operating worldwide. Such machines, manufactured in Sanand, are now offered by ABFPL for future Indian power projects, the statement added.
