The Hindu : Business : BHEL to enter nuclear area

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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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BHEL to enter nuclear area

Special Correspondent

To open office at Shanghai by March to source castings and forgings

NEW DELHI: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) has approved a massive expansion programme to enhance its manufacturing capacity to 20,000 MW by 2012 and its foray into nuclear power equipment production such as generators, turbines and nuclear reactors along with joint venture partners.

The company has also decided to open an office at Shanghai in China by March to source castings and forgings from China and develop a working relationship with Chinese suppliers.

The approval comes close on the heels of doubts raised by sections of the Power Ministry over the ability of BHEL to fulfil its obligations in view of the massive capacity addition programme during the XI Plan.

Order book position

The company’s order book now stands at 45,000 MW..

Under the programme approved by the BHEL Board and the Ministry of Heavy Industries, BHEL would have 15,000 MW capacity in place by the end of 2009 and 20,000 MW by 2012. In addition, the transmission capacity at the Bhopal unit would increase to 30,000 MVA by March and at Jhansi to 15,000 MVA by the end of October. The expansion programme up to 15,000 MW with an investment of Rs. 4,200 crore had been approved for this purpose.

Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh, who recently made visits to BHEL facilities in Tiruchi, Haridwar, Bhopal and Hyderabad, to review the expansion programme, said orders had been placed for almost all machines and while some machines might come after December, arrangements for outsourcing had already been made to ensure that capacity was not a constraint. “The investment programme for expansion from 15,000 MW to 20,000 MW amounting to another Rs. 5, 000 crore is likely to be approved by the end of next month,” he added.

He said even private companies such as Jindal, GVK Power and others, who were looking at Chinese companies to source equipment, were now placing orders with BHEL. The recent placement of Rs. 5,044 crore order on BHEL by Jindal Power was one of the biggest in the company’s history, he added.

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