BHEL, the public sector heavy engineering company, is keen to get into the manufacture of electrolysers and fuel cells.
The company will come out with an invitation for ‘expression of interest’ (EOI) for partnering with it for electrolysers and fuel cells. A senior source in the company told Business Line today that the call for EOI could happen “within one week”.
This would then be the second such call. On November 10 last year, BHEL had issued a similar invitation for EOI, the last date for which was November 30.
“BHEL is seeking interest for partnering with it to address growing Hydrogen economy business through manufacturing of (i) Electrolyser System for Hydrogen Production and (ii) Hydrogen based PEM Fuel Cell System,” the invitation for EOI had said. “Based on the responses received, a separate request for partnership shall be issued by BHEL for selection of Partner(s) in the targeted areas of Hydrogen Value Chain business,” it had said.
‘May results in jt ventures’
The source said that the response was good and a team is evaluating the responses, but did not wish to give out any further details as the matter was still “internal”.
Asked why a second EOI, the official said that the first one was more to test the market, based on which “we will not enter into any tie-up". The upcoming invitation would be more detailed and would possibly result in joint ventures, he said.
BHEL is mainly a manufacturer of power equipment – boilers, turbines and transmission products. The company also has had a presence in transportation—it produces locomotive engines. Apart from these, the company also produces some products, such as guns, for the Defence.
In 2020-21, it made a net loss of ₹2,717 crore, on a turnover of ₹16,296 crore. In the first half of the current financial year, its turnover was ₹7,634 crore and net loss ₹513 crore.