BHEL bags Rs 4051 cr contract from OPGC

Contract is for supply of the main plant consisting of boiler, turbine and generator at an all inclusive firm price of Rs 3748.94 cr and erection of the main plant at Rs 302.06 cr

Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged Rs 4051 crore contract from state controlled Odisha Power Generation Corporation Ltd (OPGC) for supply and erection of the main plant for 1320 Mw capacity expansion pursued by the thermal power producer.

The contract is for supply of the main plant consisting of boiler, turbine and generator at an all inclusive firm price of Rs 3748.94 crore and erection of the main plant at Rs 302.06 crore. The contract agreement was executed by Venkatachalam Kuppusami, managing director of OPGC and V Venkatakrishnan, general manager (marketing) of BHEL in the presence of energy minister Arun Sahu and J K Mohapatra, additional chief secretary.

"We had launched an international competitive bidding for supply of main plant equipment. Four serious players had participated in the bidding process. BHEL gave us a very competitive pricing. The design and engineering of the equipment will take six months after which actual construction will commence", said Kuppusami.

P K Jena, chairman of OPGC and Odisha energy secretary said, "BHEL has given us a firm price. There is no question of escalation. OPGC has all statutory clearances and so there should be no delay in starting the project. Our agenda is to ensure that the project gets completed before March 2017."

The contract for the balance of plant equipment is under evaluation and is expected to be awarded soon.

The expansion plan of OPGC, a 51:49 joint venture between the Odisha government and US-based AES Corporation Ltd, involved addition of two supercritical units, each of 660 Mw, being taken up at a cost of Rs 11,547 crore which also includes cost of other components like coal block development and dedicated rail corridor . The state utility in November 2012, tied up funding of Rs 8660 crore from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification (REC), by executing a loan agreement with the two Central PSUs. The balance funding is to be borne proportionately by the Odisha government and US-based AES which hold 51 per cent and 49 per cent stake respectively in OPGC.

The additional capital infusion by AES and the Odisha government is set to begin after 2015 as OPGC has cash to go ahead with project implementation. Construction work on the expansion plan is expected to take off in April 2013 with the commissioning scheduled during the 12th Plan period (2012-17).

The Ministry of Coal has allocated Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks for catering to OPGC's expansion plan. Though Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks were allocated for the OPGC project, it is projected that the coal mine would be in a position to achieve full capacity production two years after the commissioning of the power plant.

The development of the coal blocks were affected due to the classification by Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) as 'No-Go' category which were reclassified into 'Go' category only in June 2011.This had prompted the state government to seek tapering coal linkage to support the OPGC expansion plan.