Indian megaproject

Technoproexport begins building a large power plant

The head of Technopromexport, Sergei Molozhavyi, will today sign a contract with the Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for $454 million. The Russian company undertakes to build turnkey three power units of the Bahr coal power plant in the state of Bihar by 2010 with a total capacity of 1980 MW. As a representative of Technopromexport told Vremya Novostey, “this is one of the first power plants in India, the power units of which will operate at supercritical steam parameters.”

The Russian company won the contract in an open tender in November last year, competing against India's BHEL and South Korea's Doosan. At the same time, the Indian side chose not to look for a general contractor for the entire construction, as a result of which the competition for the construction of the turbine hall was won by Power Machines. In Russia, by the way, power plants are now being built according to the same principle - this in some cases makes it possible to diversify construction and increase cost efficiency.

Technopromexport has been operating in India since the 60s. During this time, the company built 11 energy facilities with a total capacity of more than 3,000 MW. The new contract, according to Mr. Molozhavoy, allows the company to gain a foothold in the Indian market. “This market is very promising for Russian energy construction companies; it has a very large capacity,” he said. In addition, the construction of the Bahr power station is the second very large project of Technopromexport in India; before that, the company built three power units of the Sipat power station of the same capacity. And in the next year and a half, NTPC plans to put up another similar project for tender.

Nikolay GORELOV