South Korean power equipment maker Doosan to set up a manufacturing unit at Chennai in Tamil Nadu: Power Minister

South Korean power equipment maker Doosan will set up a manufacturing unit at Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, the Power Minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, said.“Doosan will be setting up a power equipment manufacturing plant at Chennai,” Mr Shinde told reporters here.Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Ltd’s factory at Chennai is likely to manufacture boilers for thermal power projects in the country.“It is 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) from Doosan,” Mr Shinde added.This facility would produce equipment to aid generation of around 3,000 MW every year.A new manufacturing facility will be useful, as India is looking to scale up its power equipment manufacturing capacity.On the capacity addition front, he said, “We would add 17,000 MW during the current financial year (2011—12)...and have so far done 37,000 MW in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12),” he added.

State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd is the country’s biggest power equipment manufacturer, with the capacity for fabricating equipment with a power generation capacity of 15,000 MW a year. This could be further scaled up to 20,000 MW a year by March 2012.

At present, in the private sector, a joint venture of Larsen & Toubro and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the sole player with a manufacturing facility operational at Hazira, in Gujarat.This plant has the capacity to produce boilers and turbine generators with a capacity of 4,000 MW per annum.Alstom and Bharat Forge have another joint venture company, which aims to produce turbine generators with a capacity of around 5,000 MW per annum. Their plant, which is coming up at Mundra, in Gujarat, is expected to be operational by 2012.

In addition, a joint venture between Toshiba and JSW is expected to be commissioned next month, which would produce turbine generators of 3,000 MW capacity every year.A Gammon-Ansaldo venture is also setting up a manufacturing plant at Tiruchi, in Tamil Nadu, which would be operational by December, 2012. The plant would produce boilers to aid generation of 4,000 MW per annum.Another such boiler manufacturing facility being set up by Thermax-Babcock & Wilcox to aid electricity generation of 3,000MW is to be completed by the end of 2011.