BHEL Lines Up Rs 900 Cr For Non-Core Business

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel), which is aggressively pursuing its capacity expansion programme in boiler manufacturing to meet the XIth Five-Year Plan target, wants to boost its non-core business as well.

The company has lined up an investment of Rs 900 crore for its non-core operations.

Under its non-core operations, Bhel's offerings scale across transmission products, electricals for urban transportation system, non-conventional products and equipments & assemblies for onshore rigs.

Ravi Kumar, chairman and managing director, Bhel, said: "We have earmarked an investment of Rs 500 crore over the next 2-3 years in our non-core business." Besides, the company will also invest Rs 400 crore in two years in augmenting its transformer manufacturing capacity.

He said the major part of the investment will go into transportation system products and transformers.

"Under transformers, we are looking at augmenting our capacity from approximately 20,000 MVA to 35,000 MVA by 2009-end." Currently, Bhel has two transformer manufacturing plants in the country located in Jhansi and Bhopal.

He said though the company is not setting up any new manufacturing centres for transformers, the capacity of both the plants will be augmented.

"Though our main focus will be on boiler, turbine and generator manufacturing and on boosting the capacity to 20,000 MW by 2012, we want to sustain a steady focus on other businesses as well," said Kumar.

He said the non-core business currently contributes up to 20% to the overall revenues of the company and by the end of 2011-12, it is expected to touch 25%.

The revenues of the company for the financial year ending March 2007 stood at Rs 17,614 crore while for year ending March 2008, it is expected to be above Rs 21,500 crore.

Kumar said the company is also looking at inorganic growth options at home and abroad.

"As far as foreign shores are concerned, we have not been successful so far but in the domestic market things are quite in line," he said.

Kumar said Bhel may be very close to acquiring a domestic company that will perfectly synergise with its core business. "Domestically, there are some proposals and we are looking at a size of acquisition to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore," he said. He refused to divulge further on the subject.

The company is in the process of signing a joint venture agreement with state utilities on the lines of what it has in Tamil Nadu. "We are expecting to ink an agreement with Gujarat and Orissa in the current financial year," Kumar said. Under the joint venture, Bhel will have a 26% stake in all upcoming power projects in the state.

BHEL Secures Rs 1,075cr Deal

New Delhi: Equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has secured an Rs 1,075-crore order from Gujarat State Energy Generation. The order for establishing a 350-MW combined cycle power plant at Hazira in Gujarat on an EPC basis is scheduled for completion in 27 months. BHEL''s project envisages design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of one Frame 9FA gas turbine generator set, one steam turbine generator set and one heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with latest controls and instrumentation (C&I), connected auxiliaries and balance of plant, in addition to complete civil works and select spares.

BHEL To Set Up Libya Power Plant

New Delhi: BHEL, India''s leading Power equipment maker, announced that it received a major order for setting up a 300 MW gas turbine-based power plant in Libya. According to a statement by BHEL, The order worth Rs 650 crore order to be executed on engineering, procurement and construction basis, has been placed by general electricity company of Libya for expansion of the 600 MW Western Mountain Power Project.

BHEL had recently completed execution of the Rs 1,400 crore project, the largest gas turbine-based power project installed by the company so far. The present contract for extension of western mountain power project envisages setting up two gas-turbine units of 150 MW each. The equipment for the 300 MW order would be supplied from Bhel`s manufacturing facilities at Haridwar, Bhopal, Jhansi, Bangalore, Chennai and Ranipet.

BHEL Secures Rs 200cr ONGC Deal

New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) on Feb 14, announced it has secured a Rs 200-crore order from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for supply of spare and accessories used in oil exploration. The order is the single largest, long-term contract from ONGC for supply of well head assemblies, X-mas tree valves and other critical spare and accessories used in the oil exploration. Around 65 per cent of the deal will have deemed export status, the new order comprises supply of over 500 sets of well head assemblies and X-mas tree valves per annum.

BHEL Wins Rs 3,390 Cr Contract

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has secured a contract worth Rs 3,390 crore for setting up two units of 500 MW each at Anpara D Thermal Power Station (TPS) in Uttar Pradesh. The units, ordered by Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (UPRVUNL), are slated for commissioning in 2011-12. BHEL’s scope of work in the contract includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of boiler turbine generator package along with associated auxiliaries, balance of plant and civil works.

BHEL Bhopal Reaches 2,500 Mw Capacity

Bhopal: The Bhopal unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has joined the majors of the hydro-turbine segment by reaching a 2,500-Mw capacity. Under its ambitious expansion plan, the Navaratna company on Han 30, began commercial production of its new hydro-block expansion unit. BHEL inaugurated the commencement of the production in the block christened as ''Swarna Jayanti Block''. The BHEL will now boast of an increased capacity of transformer production at 30,000 MVA per annum. The public sector giant, which has Rs 400-crore worth contracts from hydropower segment in hand, has infused Rs 180 crore in the block though the completion is behind schedule. The unit was scheduled to begin commercial production in October last year, but slow pace of civil work made the progress tardy.

BHEL, Trichy Secures Rs 15000cr Orders

Trichy: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Trichy, has secured orders worth Rs 15,000 crore, its all-time high. BHEL, said the recent MoU with the TNEB for setting up two 800 Mw thermal power stations near Chennai had resulted in the power plant major bagging orders. The PSU was also increasing capacity addition and in the first phase, the manufacturing capacity was increased to 10,000 Mw. The second phase, which will see its capacity upgraded to 15,000 Mw per year, will be finished by March 2009. The ongoing second phase expansion at an investment of Rs 732 crore was the single largest investment in the history of BHEL, Trichy.

BHEL To Develop Korba

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh government has called off the contract awarded to China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Company (CMEC) to establish 600MW thermal power plant in Korba district. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) lost the bid to the Chinese company, which won the contract by quoting the lowest rate of Rs 3.61 crore. The decision to cancel the Letter of Intent (LoI) given to the CMEC was taken after a high level meeting, Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) Rajib Ranjan said. CMEC could be blacklisted for the delay and refusal to take up the project. CSEB denied to consider CMEC''s proposal and invoked the bank guarantee of Rs 35 crore deposited as bid money. Instead of calling a fresh tender, the government decided to award the second lowest bidder of the project, BHEL. BHEL has earlier bagged the procurement and construction (EPC) contract for establishing two units of 250MW each at Korba (East) thermal power project (TPP).

BHEL Gets Rs 866-Cr Reliance Order

New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has received a Rs 866-crore order from Reliance Industries for setting up a 345-MW captive power plant in Maharashtra. This is the first commercial order on BHEL for an ''advanced-class Frame 9FA'' gas turbine and will open up a new line of business for the company. The project is being set up to meet power requirement of Reliance Retail and other ventures of Reliance Industries and is expandable to up to 1,000 MW. It is slated for completion in 26 months. BHEL''s scope of work in the project would include supply of the gas turbine generator set, one steam turbine generator set and one heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), besides civil works and select spares. The gas turbine generator would be manufactured at BHEL''s Hyderabad plant, while the HRSG at Tiruchi plant. Till now, the company has supplied and commissioned over 700 steam turbine and gas turbine-based plants in India and abroad.

NTPC Enters Into Power Tools Market

New Delhi: NTPC will diversify into equipment manufacturing, with the board giving the go ahead for an alliance with Bharat Forge, India''s largest forging company. NTPC is positioning itself in such a way that it becomes a source of raw materials used for making the equipment and for supplying the main equipment. The entry is a part of the company''s strategy to decrease the shortages of power equipment in the country, which is hampering the addition of power generation capacity in the country. NTPC, which has an installed capacity of 27,904 mw and produces one-third of the country''s electricity, mulls to increase its capacity to over 50,000 mw in the next five years. It is a challenging task when there is a severe shortage of all kind of equipment with BHEL, the country''s leading power equipment major, unable to meet the burgeoning demand.