Prospering Indian Power Sector

Bharat Heavy Electricals sets a target to supply 12,000 MW of power equipment to power companies such as NTPC in 2010-11

Confident of meeting power requirements for the Commonwealth Games, public sector company Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has set a target to supply 12,000 MW of power equipment to power companies such as NTPC in 2010-11. This is three times the 4,000 MW supply in the previous fiscal. This comes in view of the recent slippages in the deadlines for power equipment supply by BHEL, which is among the many reasons that has lead to lower power capacity addition than the XI Plan targets. To address this issue, the Heavy Industry Ministry has set up a panel under the PMO's directive. The panel is chaired by the Secretary, Heavy Industries and includes the Chairmen and Managing Directors of BHEL and NTPC and representatives from the Power Ministry.

Effective till 2011-12, the XI Plan has targeted 78,700 MW of power capacity for the five-year period. For the first three years, however, only 23,302 MW of power capacity has been added. Mr B.S. Meena, Secretary, Heavy Industries, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said that the Government panel had met on April 30 and in view of the investments made for capacity expansion at BHEL, it had formulated the 12,000 MW equipment supply target for the fiscal.

"There is a big slippage in capacity addition, which has been reviewed by both the PM's office and the Power Ministry. "The Panel met last Friday and is now satisfied with the progress. We're going to complete all the Commonwealth related projects and State power projects. The target is 15,000 MW, but we can confidently say that we're going to execute projects for 12,000 MW," he said. For the whole Plan period, he said the Government hopes to achieve 62,000 - 65,000 MW of power supply.

Asked about the slippages and what the Government Panel had done to ensure a turnaround, Mr Meena said, "BHEL was not prepared in terms of capacity to match up to the high demand of the XI Plan. "We've invested around Rs 3,000 crores in expanding this capacity." BHEL has established the capability to deliver 15,000 MW of power equipment a year and further augmentation to 20,000 MW a year is under way. During fiscal 2009-10, a record 74 per cent of the total power generated in the country was contributed by BHEL sets, which comprise two-thirds of the country's installed capacity.

BHEL had beaten its own order flow guidance of Rs 55,000 crore for 2009-10 by reporting orders worth Rs 59,031 crore, finishing the year with an order backlog of Rs 1,43,800 crore. Of the orders received last fiscal, a majority were from the private sector. With plans for capacity expansion to 20,000 MW by 2011-12, use of indigenous supercritical technology, new products and strategic alliances will be key to achieving higher turnover.