CAPEX plans- BHEL to invest INR 1200 crore by 2012

Bharat Heavy Electricals is revamping its production processes to develop low cost and more efficient equipment as it seeks to counter the threat of cheap imports from China. The company plans to increase its expenditure on research and development by almost 50% to INR 1,200 crore by 2011-12.

The report quoted Mr B Prasada Rao CMD of BHEL at the 46th annual general meeting of the company as saying that “The engineering & technology character of the organization will be enhanced with increased focus on innovation and R&D.”

In 2009-10 BHEL invested INR 829 crore in R&D with prime focus on economical power equipment that have high efficiency. With its R&D initiatives, BHEL has been able to expand the load on existing power equipment to generate more power without much additional cost. For instance, it has introduced rating sets of 600 MW in the sub critical league that match Chinese 660 MW super critical sets in efficiency without escalating the cost of the equipment. The company has introduced new range of equipment and enhanced the rating of 500 mw sets to 525 MW and 250 MW to 270 MW.

The company also has secured orders worth INR 59,037 crore from domestic and international clients in 2009-10, of which about 90% came from the private sector. The current order book of the company stands at INR 144,000 crore.

Mr Rao said that against the backdrop of climate change, there would be increased focus on low carbon path technologies such as Ultra Supercritical technology, IGCC and Solar Power. He said that “BHEL proposes to play a lead role in ‘development and deployment’ of advanced Ultra Supercritical Power Plants under the proposed National Mission for Clean Coal (Carbon) Technologies.”

(Sourced from ET)

ref:
http://www.steelguru.com/indian_news/CAPEX_plans-_BHEL_to_invest_INR_1200_crore_by_2012/166078.html