The power-starved economy?s need for captive power plant is filling up the Rs 3,246 crore Thermax Ltd?s order books. Thermax has just received a Rs 820-crore order from a major refinery to supply boilers for the captive cogeneration plant. This is the single largest order received by Thermax till date. Thermax has been able to break into this market of up to 800 MW subcritical utility boilers thanks to its tie up with Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group Inc, USA. These boilers are being manufactured by the company under technology licence from Babcock & Wilcox. MS Unnikrishnan, MD, Thermax has indicated in the company annual report that this was a huge opportunity which would put the company in the big league of power equipment suppliers. ?With B&Ws proven technology, Thermax can make a significant impact in the public and private power generation sector where an estimated 80,000 MW of capacity will be added in the next five years,? he said.
The refinery is currently implementing significant capacity expansion slated to process up to 35 mtpa of crude. Thermax is supplying captive cogen plant, which consists of 4 x 750 TPH (total 2400 MWt output), with pulverised coal fired boilers. The high-pressure steam will generate 390MW of electricity and the balance energy produced will be used for process heating within the refinery, Indonesian coal will be used as fuel to fire these boilers. With these projects in boilers flowing in the company is actively expanding manufacturing capacity.
