Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has won the fourth successive order placed by Tamil Nadu power utility Tangedco for supercritical power generation equipment.
With an estimated value of over Rs.7,300 crore, the EPC order involves setting up of the 2×660-mw Udangadi supercritical power project in Tamil Nadu.
Tangedco (Tamil Nadu Generation & Distribution Corporation Ltd) is setting up the 1,320-mw coal-fired power plant at Tiruchendur taluka in Tuticorin district of the southern state. BHEL’s scope of works in the contract covers design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection, commissioning and civil works for the entire plant including sea water intake & outfall systems.
The Udangudi thermal power project, proposed way back in 2007, was to come up as a joint venture between Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (since bifurcated) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
Over the past three years, Tangedco has finalized four orders for supercritical power generation equipment and BHEL has won all of them. The previous three orders relate to the Ennore SEZ power plant (2×660-mw), North Chennai thermal power plant-Stage III (1×800-mw) and the Uppur project (2×800-mw).
For the Udangudi project, key equipment will be manufactured at BHEL’s Trichy, Haridwar, Bhopal, Ranipet, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Thirumayam and Bengaluru plants while the company’s Power Sector – Southern Region shall be responsible for civil works, erection and commissioning of the equipment.
As of mid-December2017, BHEL had an order book (including completed orders) of 50 sets of supercritical boilers and 43 sets of supercritical turbines, placed by a variety of clientele—Central, state and private power utilities.
A decade of delay
The Udangudi power project has been in the making since 2007. It was originally to come up as a joint venture between Tangedco (74 per cent) and BHEL (26 per cent). BHEL was to be the deemed EPC contractor for the project. Due to alleged delays in mobilizing the project, Tangedco decided to scrap the JV and implement the project on its own. BHEL, officially exited the joint venture (Udangudi Power Corporation Ltd) in April 2013 and Tangedco subsequently floated tenders for the project. BHEL and a Chinese consortium (Trishe-CSCEPDI) were in the final fray. The project was awarded to BHEL but the Chinese consortium moved court, seeking fair assessment of bids. In June 2015, the Madras High Court scrapped the tendering process, and bids, on international competitive bidding basis, were sought afresh. BHEL emerged successful; there were no Chinese bidders, it is reliably learnt, as the tender had specified a condition that bidders needed to have local manufacturing facilities, or would be setting up the same within a stipulated time frame.
Photograph (sourced from www.doosanskodapower.com) shows an illustrative image of a supercritical turbine.
