BHEL commissions 660 MW thermal unit in Bihar

The public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) today said that it had commissioned the second 660 MW unit at the Barh Supercritical Thermal Power Project, Stage II, of NTPC Limited in Bihar.

The first 660 MW unit of the project was commissioned earlier and dedicated to the nation by Union Minister for Power Piyush Goyal on November 15, 2014.

A press release from BHEL said the company was presently executing orders for 36 sets of supercritical boilers and 31 sets of supercritical turbine generators, which are in various stages of execution.

These orders include orders from Central and State sector as well as private sector companies. Supercritical units are more efficient, consume lesser coal and are eco-friendly, it said.

As in the sub-critical segment, BHEL has retained its market leadership in the country’s supercritical segment also, it said.

The key equipment for the project has been manufactured by BHEL at its Haridwar, Trichy, Hyderabad and Bengaluru works, while the construction of the plant was undertaken by the company’s Power Sector – Eastern Region.

To keep abreast with the latest technologies, BHEL has already taken up the indigenous development of the Advanced Ultra Supercritical (AUSC) technology with NTPC and IGCAR, which will result in a further reduction of about 11% in coal consumption and CO2 emission.

BHEL supplied thermal sets fully meet the performance standards notified by CEA. As per a recent CEA study on the performance of installed power generating sets, BHEL supplied sets have demonstrated a better operating heat rate resulting in less coal consumption per unit of power produced, the release added.