The joint venture of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on Tuesday inaugurated the country's first private sector facilities for the manufacture of supercritical boilers and turbine generators at Hazira in Surat.
Supercritical technology for coal-fired power plants is globally recognised as one of the most eco-friendly solutions to power generation. The technology ensures higher fuel efficiency leading to higher plant efficiency. Carbon emissions are reduced by as much as 5 per cent. The L&T-MHI facilities are among the largest of their kind in the world, with a present annual capacity of manufacturing 5,000 MW of equipment, to be expanded to 6,000 MW by 2012.
Speaking on the occasion L&T Chairman and Managing Director A. M. Naik said, “We are proud to be the first private sector company to set up such a facility in India. It is imperative that India builds domestic capacity for such critical equipment for the power sector.
“The L&T-MHI facilities are a step in that direction. It is a world-class facility that will produce world-class products.''
According to President (Power) and L&T Board Member Ravi Uppal, “The commissioning of the manufacturing facilities in Hazira is a landmark achievement for India as it becomes the second local ‘power plant manufacturing' unit in the country enabling the country to meet its enhanced requirement of the power generation equipment and move towards self sufficiency.''
The joint venture factories equipped with the latest facilities have been built and put into operation in a record time of less than 18 months.
The Hazira facility is India's largest integrated manufacturing complex for the production of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly supercritical generation equipment.