BHEL and KPCL float JV Company for setting up Supercritical Thermal Power Projects in Karnataka

Bangalore, January 12: Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have joined hands for setting up a Joint Venture Company (JVC) to Build, Own and Operate Thermal Power Plants with Supercritical parameters in Karnataka.

The joint venture agreement was signed in the presence of Dr. B.S. Yeddyurappa, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka; Sh. Sontosh Mohan Dev, Hon’ble Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India; Sh. Jairam Ramesh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Government of India; Sh. K.S. Eswarappa, Hon’ble Minister for Energy, Government of Karnataka and other dignitaries, in Bangalore today.

The projects identified to be set up by the joint venture company are Edlapur (one set) and Eramarus (two sets) in Raichur district of Karnataka.

Both KPCL and BHEL are leaders in their respective fields. Whereas KPCL, with an installed capacity of 5,740 MW, has expertise and technical capability in the area of installing, owning, operating and maintaining power plants; BHEL is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise of its kind in India and one of the leading companies in the field of power plant equipment. The cumulative capacity of projects equipped with BHEL equipment, covering domestic as well as export markets, has crossed 1,00,000 MW.

BHEL has already formed a Joint Venture Company with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) for setting up Udangudi Supercritical Thermal Power Project (2x800 MW) in Tamil Nadu. The company has also bagged major orders for power generating equipment with supercritical parameters, from NTPC for the 2x660 MW Barh Thermal Power Project Stage-II, and from APGenco for the 2x800 MW Krishnapatnam Power Project.

BHEL has upgraded its technology base from sub-critical sets to supercritical sets of 660/800 MW and above. The company has ongoing collaboration agreements with Alstom, France and Siemens, Germany, with a technology transfer arrangement. This will enable the country to be self reliant in the field of supercritical thermal power plants.

BHEL was established by the Government of India in 1956 with the primary objective of making India self reliant in the manufacture of power plant equipment. Out of the current installed capacity of about 1,40,000 MW of utility sets in the country, the share of BHEL equipment stands at around 65%. These sets contribute over 73% of the country’s total power generation.

An ambitious capacity addition target of over 78,000 MW has been set in the country during the 11th Plan. To meet this challenging target, BHEL has augmented its capacity to 10,000 MW per annum and is in the process of augmenting it further to 15,000 MW per annum and 20,000 MW per annum by the years 2009 and 2011, respectively.