A delay of three years, and counting, in the commissioning of a thermal power plant for its customer, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, has caused public sector power-equipment major BHEL to send its engineers to Germany to take troubleshooting lessons.
For the first time in the country, a 250-MW lignite-fired thermal power plant based on the environment-friendly circulating fluidised bed combustion(CFBC) is being attempted at the public sector power utility NLC. BHEL is responsible for supplying the equipment and building the plant.
Technical issue
Three years since the originally scheduled date of commissioning, the project, in the words of a senior BHEL official, “is still stuck on technical issues.” Now, a small team of engineers has been sent to Germany to learn from technology supplier Lurgi Lentjes how to fix the technical snags.
The first of the two 250-MW units was actually fired up about six months ago but, as the operators tried to raise the output to full rated capacity, some pressure parts broke. “The pressure parts supporting system needs review,” the official said.
Some time back, a war of words broke out between Neyveli Lignite and BHEL, the former holding the latter responsible for the delay and BHEL saying the delay was initially caused by NLC’s insistence that a formal “joint deed of understanding” be signed between BHEL and Lentjes.
Unique to plant
BHEL says the problem is unique to the plant and “even the technical collaborators are learning.” The technical issue faced here is “a subject for getting a PhD.”
Regardless, the official said that there are a few solutions on the horizon, and the plant could well start generating power by mid-February. He pointed out that the CFBC-based boilers can fire even poor-quality fuels (such as lignite). It is only a matter of time before this technology for 250-MW plants is mastered and, once that is done, BHEL would have on its hands a veritable goldmine of opportunities.