Engineering firms Thermax and Doosan have entered the race for NTPC’s R18,000 crore-supercritical equipment contract, expanding the list of companies interested in supplying the 800 mw equipment to the PSU. However, Ansaldo, which is engaged in legal battle with NTPC over its disqualification from bidding for the supply of 660 mw equipment, kept itself out of the contention by not bidding for the tender.
Technical bids for the project (involving supply of boilers), which were opened on Wednesday, saw participation from five companies/consortiums. The bids of these companies will be evaluated on technical parameters before they are given nod to place their financial bids. NTPC hopes to complete the tendering process by the end of the year.
Thermax, which has forged technological collaboration with US-based Babcock & Wilcox for manufacturing supercritical equipment in the country, and Korean equipment manufacturer Doosan are participating for the first time in the bulk tender process initiated by NTPC.
Bhel and L&T are the other players in the race for 800 mw equipment supply contract for NTPC’s projects. The new generation equipment is aimed at improving the efficiency of NTPC plants while help the PSU to reduce emissions. Meanwhile, bids for the bulk of turbine-generators to these projects are scheduled to open on Friday. Key power equipment manufacturers like Bhel, BGR Energy, JSW, L&T and Bharat Forge have shown interest to participate in the bidding, sources said.
NTPC plans to use these equipment at its projects at places like Lara in Chhattisgarh, Darllipalli and Gajmara in Orissa and Kudgi in Karnataka. NTPC had to re-tender for the supply of 660 mw boilers after L&T was disqualified, leaving Bhel as the sole bidder for the project.