Kolkata, August 8: State-owned engineering company BHEL said it has begun civil works at the Sagardighi 660-MW supercritical thermal power project in West Bengal. Following prior strategic completion of pre-engineering activities for the project, groundbreaking has started on a zero date itself, a statement from BHEL stated.
This is a significant accomplishment because it takes a few months to start civil work on-site, the company said, conventionally after the zero date.
BHEL secured the turnkey order for the Sagardighi Thermal Power Project Extension Unit-5, priced at about Rs 3,500 crore, facing intense foreign competitive bidding. West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) put an order for the project located at Manigram village in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
The notice to proceed was issued after the necessary approvals such as environmental clearances were obtained. The scope of BHEL’s work in the project involves design, engineering, production, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of the turnkey package for the main plant, the statement said.
The kit includes supercritical boiler and turbine generator and its auxiliary, electrical, control and instrumentation systems, switchyard, flue gas desulphurization (FGD) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, coal handling plant and ash handling facility.
The key project equipment will be manufactured at BHEL’s Trichy, Haridwar, Bhopal, Ranipet, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Thirumayam and Bengaluru plants, while the on-site construction and installation activities will be carried out by the company’s Power Sector-Eastern Region division.
BHEL is already equipping the Sagardighi thermal power station with two 500 MW sets installed in 2016.
Till date, BHEL has contributed more than 80% of WBPDCL ‘s total coal-based generating capacity. In addition to Sagardighi, BHEL has been implementing projects for WBPDCL at Bakreswar (5×210 MW), Kolaghat TPS (6×210 MW), Bandel TPS (1×210 MW) and Santaldih TPS (4×120 MW + 2×250 MW).
The BHEL-installed units work successfully and constitute the backbone of electricity generation in West Bengal state. BHEL is the largest manufacturer of power generation equipment in India with an installed base of over 1.90,000 MW of power plant equipment globally.
The company has sold 58 sets of supercritical boilers and 53 sets of supercritical turbine generators in domestic as well as overseas markets, ordered on it by different customers. BHEL has successfully manufactured and introduced 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW sets in the supercritical market, thus demonstrating its leadership position and technical prowess.
