Bhel Trichy to bet on supercritical boilers in big way

The Tiruchirappalli unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) is looking at the super critical boilers segment in a big way. During the fiscal 2010-11, the unit received orders for a record number of seven supercritical projects including three 800 mw, one 700 mw and three 660 mw units. The unit is confident of securing another 8-10 projects in the near future, said AV Krishnan, executive director, Bhel Tiruchirappalli. The unit is also expecting a few orders from bulk tendering of NTPC projects.

He said, in the coming future, super critical boilers is going to be a major business segment. “Despite the competition, we have managed to bag enough orders in the segment and we are confident that we will be able to stand out in the crowd. The company had tied up with Alstom for the technology including manufacturing and engineering . Now, the technology has been fully absorbed and today we would be able to compete in the market on our own. Similarly, we are looking at the ultra super critical segment. As per the national mission, Bhel along with IGCAR and NTPC would be developing boilers to address that segment by 2017”.

The unit has done lot of technology development and has the expertise to design boilers for imported coal. For instance, the unit developed a new 600-mw in-house design for high calorific value imported coal for Videocon’s Pipavav Energy. It also developed a boiler design for the largest capacity stoker fired single drum two-pass boiler with in-house developed stoker.

Krishnan said the unit’s main focus is on lean management, waste management and other initiatives which would ensure cost competitiveness and quality of products.

2010-11, up by 22.63% over the previous year’s figure of R10,009 crore. Profit before tax of the unit stood at R3,250 crore as against R2,813 crore in the previous year, registering an increase of 15.54%.

The outstanding order book of the unit was high at R39,121 crore, a 11.77% increase over last year. During the year alone, the unit secured orders worth R15,631 crore. According to AV Krishnan, executive director of the unit, the turnover of the unit has tripled while the PBT has quadrupled over the last five years