In the face of stiff competition under International Competitive Bidding (ICB), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has bagged a prestigious contract for the supply and installation of the Power Cycle Piping (PCP) package for Barh Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-I (3x660 MW) of NTPC. The power project is located at Barh in Patna district in the state of Bihar. Valued at Rs 3.69 billion.

BHEL has been awarded this package by NTPC for the revival of the Barh plant and to make it operational, after NTPC terminated the contract of the foreign contractor, who was awarded the contract for the supercritical boiler including Power Cycle Piping in 2005, but which has not yet been completed.

BHEL's scope in the order includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of the complete Power Cycle Piping Package of the project. The design, manufacture and supply of Power Cycle Piping equipment will be taken care of by the Piping Centre and Trichy-Valves Division of BHEL, while the company’s Power Sector Eastern Region will be responsible for the erection and commissioning of the Power Cycle Piping. This is not the first time that BHEL has been entrusted the responsibility of revival of a project, initially ordered on a foreign company.

Earlier, BHEL had received an order from Ratnagiri Gas & Power Private (RGPPL) for restarting the 1,967 MW Gas Turbine based Combined Cycle Project at Ratnagiri. Notably the two units of the Stage-II (2x660 MW) of Barh STPP, for which supply and installation of supercritical boilers and turbines was awarded on BHEL in 2008, have already been commissioned. The first 660 MW Unit at Barh STPP Stage-II, was dedicated to the nation by Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy on 15th November, 2014.

The commissioning of these two units of 660 MW each is an important development for the country seeking to achieve self reliance in the field of contemporary, state-of-the-art supercritical technology and demonstrates BHEL's capability in the area of supercritical technology, which is expected to lower coal consumption and eco-friendly and efficient power generation.

BHEL has the capability to execute Piping Systems on turnkey basis for supercritical units as a total systems provider meeting international codes and standards. Supplies of Piping Systems to domestic and overseas customers have been made as part of boiler / turbine supplies as well as standalone packages. BHEL strives to keep abreast with state-of-the-art technology through continuous in-house developments. Materials like P-91 and P-92 have been introduced contributing to economy in weight and increased efficiency for which design, manufacture and welding intricacies at shop and site have been established.

Shares of the company gained Rs 3.8, or 1.51%, to trade at Rs 255.40. The total volume of shares traded was 124,970 at the BSE (11.27 a.m., Monday).