Alstom CEO meets Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Sh. Vilasrao Deshmukh in Paris; Move aimed at strenghthening and enlarging business relationship with BHEL

Aimed at strengthening the long-standing relationship between the two engineering majors, Alstom and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Mr. Patrick Kron, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alstom SA met the Hon’ble Union Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh in Paris. Mr. B.S. Meena, Secretary (HI), His Excellency Rajan Mathiah, Ambassador of India to France and Mr. B.P. Rao, CMD, BHEL, were also present on the occasion.

Mr. Kron apprised the Minister about Alstom’s century old presence in India and expressed the desire to strengthen their presence in other infrastructure areas in the country. The Hon’ble Minister expressed his happiness at the existing co-operation for once-through boilers including super-critical steam generators between Alstom and BHEL. The possibility of increasing this co-operation to new areas of power and transportation sector were discussed during the meeting.

BHEL has an ongoing Technology Transfer Agreement with Alstom for design and manufacture of large-size Supercritical Once-Through Boilers. The agreement has enabled BHEL to gain access to Supercritical Technology, hitherto the domain of leading players, thereby enabling it to enlarge its product range.

The Agreement includes transfer of state-of-the-art technology to BHEL for any size of Once-Through Boilers and associated Coal Pulverisers. During the period of the Agreement, Alstom will provide training to BHEL engineers as well as support in the design, engineering, manufacture, assembly, testing, erection, commissioning, repair, retrofit and upgradation of the boilers.

BHEL is equipped to meet the requirements of higher-size Supercritical Thermal Plants as a result of the technology tie-up with Alstom - the world leaders in boiler technology having installed more than 4,00,000 MW of boilers globally.

Once-Through Boilers are being employed world-wide due to their higher efficiency which enables higher generation of power despite using the same amount of fuel. Significantly, Once-Through Boilers also respond better to load changes, besides reducing emission of pollutant greenhouse gases and particulate matter from fossil fuel fired power plants. These are being manufactured at BHEL’s High Pressure Boiler Plant in Tiruchirappally (Tamil Nadu).

BHEL also manufactures different types of boilers like Drum Type Boilers, Waste Heat Recovery Boilers, and environment friendly Fluidised Bed Combustion Boilers, firing coal, lignite, oil and gas. BHEL is the leader in the engineering and supply of Drum Type Boilers, using high ash content abrasive Indian coal.