OREANDA-NEWS. India continues to grow as a global center of technological excellence, accounting for 10 percent of research and development and home to five of the top 10 science and technology schools in Asia. Govt of India, having a network of more than 50 laboratories deeply engaged in developing a range of technologies from electronic and computer sciences, through life sciences and materials, to marine research and development, will invest in a new scientific research platform vessel to be built by Bharati Shipyard, based in Mumbai.

The Class XII merchant vessel will host scientists from various Indian government scientific laboratories. It will be used to carry out multipurpose research along the coastal sea belt of India.

Bharati has chosen GE Power Conversion (NYSE: GE), with its extensive experience and understanding of the global marine industry, to supply the power and propulsion system for the ship. This will be the first diesel-electric ship built in India to incorporate medium-voltage equipment, an area in which GE already has a strong position globally. Delivery of the vessel is expected in the year 2015.

Bharati has signed two contracts with GE for the current project. The main one is with GE Power Conversion in France for design, production and supply of the power and propulsion equipment (generators, motors and drives). The supplementary contract is with GE Power Conversion in India, which will be responsible for technical services, design, documentation, installation checks, commissioning and sea trials.

“One of the key reasons why Bharati wanted to work with GE is because of their ability to provide strong local engineering and technical support,” says Partho Burmon Roy, a director at Bharati Shipyard. “Our two companies know each other well, having worked together in the past on offshore projects.”

The medium-voltage propulsion system is rated at 3.3 kV, with two propulsion motors of 5 MW. Each motor is fitted with one of GE’s MV7000 drives, which stand out from the pack with their high efficiency and control flexibility. MV7000 drive technology can be applied to a wide range of equipment: the drives can feed both induction and synchronous machines with high performance vector control across all speed ranges.

Paul English, marine business leader for GE Power Conversion says, “GE has built up a good reputation in India over many years, and this has clearly helped us to win this interesting new contract. The people at Bharati know they can trust us to deliver with a medium-voltage propulsion system that will be unique in Indian waters. They also know that we are very good at accommodating application-specific needs into individual projects, according to each customer’s unique situation.”

“We are also very happy to gain Govt of India as the final end user of this type of medium-voltage diesel-electric propulsion vessel for the first time, and we will be working hard to make sure it is not the last,” English added. “We have been working on this project for two years, and I think it is fair to say that all parties are very satisfied with the outcome. Overall, we see good prospects for power and propulsion systems in India in the marine industry.”