State-owned engineering firm BHEL on Friday said it has commenced civil works at 660-MW Sagardighi supercritical thermal power project in West Bengal. Following the strategic completion of pre-engineering activities for the project beforehand, ground breaking has begun on zero date itself, a BHEL statement said.

This is a major achievement as conventionally it takes a few months after the zero date to initiate civil works on-site, the company said. Valued at approximately Rs 3,500 crore, the turnkey order for Sagardighi Thermal Power Project Extension Unit-5 was won by BHEL against stiff international competitive bidding.

The order for the project located at Manigram village in Murshidabad district of West Bengal was placed on BHEL by West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL). The notice to proceed was issued after obtaining the necessary approvals like environmental clearances.

BHEL's scope of work in the project includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of the main plant turnkey package, the statement said. The package comprises supercritical boiler and turbine generator along with its auxiliaries, electricals, controls and instrumentation, switchyard, flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, coal handling plant and ash handling plant.

The key equipment for the project will be manufactured at BHEL's Trichy, Haridwar, Bhopal, Ranipet, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Thirumayam and Bengaluru plants, while the company's Power Sector - Eastern Region division will be responsible for construction and installation activities on site.

The Sagardighi thermal power station is already equipped with two sets of 500 MW installed by BHEL in 2016. BHEL has so far contributed over 80 per cent of the total coal-based generating capacity of WBPDCL. In addition to Sagardighi, BHEL has executed projects at Bakreswar (5x210 MW), Kolaghat TPS (6x210 MW), Bandel TPS (1x210 MW) and Santaldih TPS (4x120 MW + 2x250 MW) for WBPDCL.

The BHEL-installed units are running successfully and form the backbone of electricity generation in the state of West Bengal. BHEL is India's largest manufacturer of power generation equipment with an installed base of over 1,90,000 MW of power plant equipment globally.

The company has contracted 58 sets of supercritical boilers and 53 sets of supercritical turbine generators, ordered on it by various customers, in domestic as well as overseas markets.

In the supercritical segment, BHEL has successfully manufactured and executed 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW sets, thereby demonstrating its leadership status and technological prowess.

First Published:Aug 7, 2020 2:44 PM IST