OREANDA-NEWS. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has achieved another landmark by successfully commissioning a 600 MW thermal unit in Odisha. The unit was commissioned at Jindal India Thermal Power Limited (JITPL)'s upcoming 2x600 MW thermal power project located at Derang in Angul District of Odisha.

Significantly, BHEL successfully loaded the machine upto 605 MW, higher than the designed capacity (Full Load), with all the operating parameters within the acceptable limits.

Valued at Rs.26,000 Million, the order for the 2x600 MW greenfield power project, was placed on BHEL by JITPL, reflecting the customer's confidence in the company's technological excellence and capabilities in executing projects of this magnitude. Not only was the order a testimony to the confidence reposed by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in BHEL's capabilities, it also reinforced BHEL's leadership status in the execution of thermal power projects involving supply of state-of-the-art equipment, suited to Indian coal and Indian conditions.

BHEL's scope of work in the contract envisaged design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of Steam Turbines, Generators and Boilers, along with associated Auxiliaries and Electricals, besides state-of-the-art Controls & Instrumentation (C&I) and Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs). Work on Unit 2 is progressing in full swing and the unit is also expected to be commissioned during the current year.

Notably, this in-house engineered 4-cylinder 600 MW rating TG set establishes the engineering prowess of BHEL. The company has so far contracted 21 sets of 600 MW sets, out of which eight have already been commissioned. These sets have a very high level of indigenisation. A large number of similar sets ensures easy availability of spares and operator's familiarity. The 500 MW sets of this rating class, supplied earlier by BHEL, today form the backbone of the Indian power sector and have been performing much above the national average as well as the international benchmarks.

Following the Electricity Act 2003, resulting in the entry of private players in a big way, BHEL has received orders from number of private developers like Tata Power, Jindal Power Limited, Jaypee group, Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd. (HNPCL), Dainik Bhaskar Group, Bajaj Hindustan Ltd, Monnet Power Company Ltd (MPCL), Avantha Group, etc., besides JITPL. Presently, 85 utility sets aggregating to more than 21,000 MW of private sector developers are in various stages of execution by BHEL.

BHEL supplied thermal sets fully meet the performance standards notified by CEA. As per a recent CEA study on the performance of sub-critical sets in the country, BHEL supplied sets have demonstrated a better operating Heat rate resulting in less coal consumption per unit of power produced.