GE to supply gas turbines for HPCL Vizag refinery expansion

GE Power today said it has got a Rs 220 crore order to supply gas turbine and generator for a captive power unit planned at Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd's (HPCL) refinery at Visakhapatnam.

The order for the supply of a 6F.03 gas turbine and a generator was placed on it by state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) - the principal contractor for the project.

"The order, worth Rs 220 crores, is part of the capacity expansion plan of HPCL refinery from the current 8.33 million tonnes per annum to 15 million tonnes. The gas turbine will generate close to 60 MW of power to run the plant operations, while the exhaust steam energy generated will be used for process applications," GE Power said in a statement here.

The HPCL Vizag order also marks the foray of GE's F-class technology into India's refinery segment, which offers a significant opportunity for technology upgrades in future, it said.

Delivering the heat rate improvement of more than 25 per cent over the traditional Frame 5 machines, the 6F.03 gas turbine will bring significant cost benefit to HPCL in terms of fuel savings during the power plant operations, it said.

"Globally, GE's 6F-class gas turbines (6F.01/6F.03) are offering superior performance... These machines are also a perfect replacement to the frame 5 and 6B gas turbines that are powering the refineries in India for more than a decade," said Deepesh Nanda, CEO, Gas Power Systems, GE South Asia.

GE's gas turbine fleet in the O&G sector in India comprises of an installed base of approximately 2.5 GW.