Production starts at Alstom-Bharat Forge’s new turbine and generator manufacturing facility in India
Alstom Bharat Forge Power Ltd (ABFPL), a joint venture between Alstom and Bharat Forge Ltd., has commenced production at its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for making supercritical turbines and generators, at Sanand, in the state of Gujarat. Set up over an area of 185,000 square meters, the site boasts an annual capacity of 4000 MW, producing equipment for several major power projects in India. Today, the factory employs more than 250 highly skilled manpower and plans are afoot to ramp it up to 650 in the near future.
The start of production at Sanand in a record time of 17 months, after the first excavation works were kicked off in November 2013, is a major construction and commissioning achievement in greenfield manufacturing facilities. The manufacturing facility incorporates stringent manufacturing processes and practices to ensure high level of reliability, performance and quality for the goods supplied out of the factory. An extensive training and knowledge transfer programme has been initiated to equip employees with the latest technological capabilities and expertise and implement the most stringent environment, health and safety standards (EHS). The site is also backed by a strong design capability in turbines and generators’ engineering as well as a robust and localized supply chain involving mainly Indian vendors.
This new facility will play a critical role in ABFPL’s strategy to enhance its capabilities in India, with increased proximity to its customers and vendors, and serve the ever expanding Indian infrastructure market, as well as the accelerating shift to ultra-supercritical technology. The first production from the new plant will be related to major power projects in India with the first deliveries planned in current calendar year.
Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited, said, “The commencement of operations of the facility in Gujarat is the first of many milestones for the Joint Venture and we believe it will be a cornerstone in the “Make In India” initiative of the Government of India. This reaffirms our commitment to strengthening India’s Infrastructure backbone in the years ahead.”
Alain Spohr, CEO & Managing Director, Alstom-Bharat Forge Power Ltd., said, “Alstom and Bharat Forge are delighted to be announcing the commencement of operations at its manufacturing facility in Gujarat and support the Indian Government’s vision to promote supercritical and ultra-supercritical technology. The company is excited about the growth opportunities enabled by the opening of this state-of-the-art facility as it provides an indication to the next wave of growth driven by the increased focus on infrastructure development in the country.”
Alstom’s supercritical technology uses steam with very high temperatures and pressure, resulting in a much higher efficiency than conventional subcritical coal-fired plants. This means that a supercritical unit burns much less coal, generating less emission per megawatt of power output. Alstom is already engaged in the evolution towards ultra-supercritical technology, with 10 ultra-supercritical units operating worldwide. Such ultra-supercritical machines, manufactured in Sanand, are now offered by ABFPL for future Indian power projects.
