The public sector power equipment major BHEL expects to garner Rs 1,500 crore of additional business, arising out of its recently-signed technology tie-up with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
BHEL and Mitsubishi signed the deal on April 3 under which the Japanese company will give BHEL the technology for removing the harmful sulphurous compounds from the gases that escape out of thermal power plants.
At present, the authorities are okay as long as the gases are let out sufficiently high into the atmosphere. But in future, the norms are likely to become tougher.
The fact that more and more of the upcoming thermal power plants in India will use imported coals—given the difficulty in securing indigenous coals—is likely to become an issue here, as imported coals are typically of high sulphur content.
Therefore, power projects will be expected to de-sulphurise the flue gases before letting them out into the atmosphere.
According to T.N. Veeraraghavan, Executive Director, BHEL’s Ranipet unit, a 660-MW super critical power plant will need to spend Rs 300 crore on FGD.
Veeraraghavan told at a press conference today that he expects BHEL to secure its first FGD order — worth about Rs 200 crore — from NTPC, for a plant that is coming up at Vindhyachal.
BHEL will learn from MHI the nuances of spraying either sea water (if the project is on the coast) or water mixed with limestone on to the flue gases, so that the sulphur compounds into either sodium sulphate or calcium sulphate.
The latter basically gypsum, which can be sold to cement plants.