CUDDALORE: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has taken steps to cut capital as well as fuel cost of coal-fired power plants. These steps are intended to improve the plant reliability, besides containing the emission level, according to V. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, BHEL, Tiruchi.

He was speaking at a seminar on "Industrial measurement and automation — emerging trend in power and mining industries," organised by the the Institution of Engineers at Neyveli. Combustion optimisation in power plants would lead to efficiency enhancement. To achieve economy, the BHEL, as power equipment designer and manufacturer, had adopted modern technology such as laser-based instrumentation and fibre-optic based temperature sensors.

Mr. Gopalakrishnan said given the deficient power scenario in the country and the overwhelming dependence on the fast depleting fossil fuels, the power sector ought to give a push to automation. In this connection he stressed the importance of the network technology that had a wider application in the power sector. Mr. Gopalakrishnan stressed the point that besides biometrics, the human factor in engineering should also be given due importance. In other words it meant how to distribute control and divisional responsibility between human beings and computer system. K.S. Anandan, NLC Director (Mines), said earlier coal blocks were considered as government facility, but now certain captive coal blocks were opening up for those who would go for captive power generation.

He said the coal-based power plants were capital intensive, as it would require Rs. 2,000 crores to set up a 500-MW unit, and hence, improving the plant efficiency was essential. A.R. Ansari, NLC Director (Planning and Projects), said there was no automation without power. As all fuel reserves was exhaustible, alternative energy sources, particularly sound energy ought to be tapped.

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