Business

NTPC’s debut in equipment making

Special Correspondent

Signs deal with TELK; to acquire stake from the Kerala government

NEW DELHI: Putting an end to speculation about its diversification plans, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has made its debut into power equipment manufacturing, something that was the domain of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.

NTPC has signed business collaboration and shareholders’ agreement with TELK of Kerala for synergy in the field of manufacturing and repair of high voltage power transformers and associated equipment. NTPC has agreed to acquire 44.6 per cent stake in TELK from the Kerala Government and its undertakings, now holding 95.6 per cent equity. This has catapulted NTPC into the power equipment arena, throwing up indications that it might further strengthen its foothold by going in for setting up a project for manufacture of power turbines and power plants.

Even the Union Power Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, has indicated that the present capacity of suppliers was not adequate and some other players needs to enter into power equipment manufacture to achieve the XI Plan target of 74,000 MW of power. NTPC is working on a vision that is aimed at not only achieving targets for the XI Plan but also setting pace for targets and goals for the XII Plan.

According to NTPC Chairman and Managing Director T. Sankaralingam, the synergy created by NTPC and TELK should make this factory number one in the country but also globally. “We need to do research and development and upgrade the skills by bringing in new technology to make TELK a world-class equipment manufacturer,” he said.

Mr. Sankaralingam said the present facility would cater not only to manufacture of new heavy duty transformers but also help in servicing of the transformers that need repair and maintenance all over the country.

He said NTPC was confident that this new initiative would not only save money but also time and provide the in-house facility for serving of the equipment.

Mr. Sankaralingam said the upgradation plan at TELK would be implemented in a phased manner, initially to achieve transformer manufacturing capacity to a level of 4,500 MVA. Later the manufacturing capacity would be raised to the level of 10,000 MVA, including 1,500 MVA of service capability. With above capacity, about 20 high capacity transformers could be manufactured and 6-7 transformers could be repaired every year. NTPC along with TELK planned to introduce mobile repair facility to take up complete dismantling, repair, assembly and testing facility at owner’s site.

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