BHEL sets up new Utra High Voltage Transformer Manufacturing Facility at Bhopal; Sh. Vilasrao Deshmukh, dedicates the new plant to the Nation

As part of its manufacturing capacity expansion to 15,000 MW per annum, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has set up a new state-of-the-art Utra High Voltage (UHV) Transformer Manufacturing Facility at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

The new unit was dedicated to the nation today by Sh. Vilasrao Deshmukh, Hon’ble Union Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises in the presence of Sh. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh; Sh. Arun Yadav, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and Sh. Rajendra Shukla, Hon’ble Minister of Energy, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Satyanarayana Dash, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry and Sh. B.P. Rao, Chairman & Managing Director, BHEL, were also present on the occasion, in addition to the Board of Directors and senior officials of BHEL and the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh.

BHEL has been committed to the nation’s power development programme and has reaffirmed its commitment to the Indian Power Sector by equipping itself for the future, by way of technology, facilities and trained manpower to meet the country’s power forecast for the 11th Plan and beyond. For this, it has already enhanced its manufacturing capacity to 10,000 MW per annum and is further augmenting it to 15,000 MW per annum which is proceeding apace and plans are afoot to hike it further to 20,000 MW by 2011-12.

Over the past five decades, BHEL has powered the Indian Transmission Sector by supplying the entire range of Power Transformers and Shunt Reactors required by the sector. The company has pioneered and played a stellar role in the evolution of UHV Technology in the country. It is expected that Supercritical Thermal Power Plants of 800 MW and Nuclear Power Plants of 700 MW and above will boost the demand for Transformers manifold in the near future. To equip itself for this anticipated surge in demand for transformers at nearly 1,20,000 MVA per year, BHEL has taken several steps in this direction.

The new UHV transformer block is another feather in BHEL's cap and boasts of state-of-the-art technology with the most modern and sophisticated equipment/machines, comparable with the best in the world. This new facility will enable BHEL to produce an additional 12,000 MVA of transformers per annum. With this, the total installed transformer manufacturing capacity at BHEL’s Bhopal plant will go up to 30,000 MVA per annum while the total capacity of BHEL including its Jhansi plant will go up to a phenomenal 45,000 MVA. The UHV transformer block will enable BHEL to fulfill its commitment of making the country self-reliant in power transmission through significant contribution towards UHV technology in particular.

The new UHV transformer Block has a dust free and controlled atmosphere, air conditioned bays for winding works, pressurised bay for Core building and final assembly, EOT cranes for lifting loads up to 450 tons, Iso static Pressing Device for windings, Air Cushion Transport System for Movement of Equipment & Machinery and attached UHV Laboratory for testing Transformers up to 1,200 kV class.