BHEL commissions 500-megawatt thermal unit at Vindhyachal STPS

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has added one more coal-based power plant to the grid by successfully commissioning the 500 MW Unit-13 of Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station (STPS), Stage-V of NTPC.

The project is located in Vindhyanagar in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.

Significantly, BHEL has earlier commissioned six units of 500 MW rating each at Vindhyachal power station.

With the commissioning of this unit, BHEL has now commissioned seven sets of 500 MW aggregating to 3,500 MW, the highest by BHEL in a power project.

BHEL's scope of work in the contract envisaged design, engineering, manufacture, supply and erection and commissioning of Steam Generator and Steam Turbine Generator along with associated Auxiliaries and state-of-the-art Controls and instrumentation.

The equipment for the project was manufactured at BHEL's Trichy, Ranipet, Haridwar, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Bhopal plants, while the company's power sector - Western Region undertook erection and commissioning of the equipment.

BHEL-make sets of 500 MW rating class today form the backbone of the Indian power sector with 76 sets having already been commissioned by BHEL in the country.

A large number of similar rating sets ensures better spares inventory management for developers. These sets have been performing much above the national average as well as international benchmarks.

BHEL supplied thermal sets also meet 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 better operating Heat rate resulting in less coal consumption per unit of power produced.

BHEL has already established its engineering prowess by successfully delivering higher rated units such as 600 MW, 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW thermal sets with a high degree of indigenisation.

Notably, in the current financial year (2015-16), BHEL has already commissioned power plants with a cumulative capacity of 2,480 megawatt.