The Hindu Business Line : New control tech powers BHEL business

RECENTLY, when the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, pressed a button in Bangalore and commissioned the first Almatti dam powerhouse project in distant Bagalkot, it was a statement on how remote-controlled technology can transform power plant operations in the country.

The 15-MW plant at Almatti, which has five more units to go, is already the third power plant (after Kota and Hazira) in eight months to get the relatively new remote-controlled technology in power plant automation from Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.

The technology is the current toast of the public sector major in the power sector. In the three years since BHEL adopted it, the technology has helped the company bag business of over Rs 1,000 crore in the area of controls and instrumentation (C&I) using the maxDNA technology and placed it on a par with global majors, according to Mr A. Bhattacharya, Executive Director of BHEL's Electronics Division at Bangalore.

Though BHEL was admittedly a late entrant to power plant automation, the crucial C&I segment with its new remote connectivity feature is now its star product. It has won back domestic and overseas customers with its improved ease of operating thermal or hydroelectric power plants.

It also accounts for 60 per cent of the Electronics Division's Rs 450-crore annual turnover for the year and looks set to grow further. At least three export orders from Indonesia, Taiwan and Bhutan are in hand. With BHEL's total order book for power plant execution swelling at Rs 20,000 crore and more, the new technology will be a key feature in its upcoming projects, Mr Bhattacharya told Business Line.

The difference made by its imported technology is the real-time access it provides to plant personnel at the central hub who can track, diagnose and advise on-site operators on the plant's health. Another gain is on the manpower side: the modern control system powered by remote connectivity has brought the control staff number down from 10-15 to just 2-3 persons, according to feedback from its users.

The industry has also been looking up in the last couple of years and there is big demand coming up from paper, cement, fertiliser, petroleum and refinery sectors. Mr Bhattacharya said the focus on R&D has also sharpened and the two R&D centres at Bangalore and Hyderabad have been concentrating on further improvement in control automation. Soon, BHEL plans to upgrade the control system to multiple connectivity through a VSAT link.

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