The Hindu Business Line : Foster Wheeler in talks with BGR Energy for boiler manufacture

Chennai, July 18 Foster Wheeler Corporation, the global engineering and construction contractor and power equipment supplier, is in talks with Chennai-based BGR Energy for a possible collaboration for manufacturing power plant boilers in India.

The talks are still open as to whether the collaboration will be a joint venture or a technology transfer. At a recent press conference, the Chairman and Managing Director of BGR Energy, Mr B.G. Raghupathy, said that the company was in talks with a large multinational company for collaboration for producing power boilers.

While he did not mention Foster Wheeler, he said that the MNC had supplied the boiler for a 460-MW project in Poland, of the ‘circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC)’ type. Foster Wheeler fits the description.

Foster Wheeler has supplied the boiler for the 460 MW Lagisza project in Poland — the biggest CFBC boiler ever to be supplied in the world.

(Incidentally, it is also the only one in the world which is a CFBC and supercritical — combining the advantages of both the technologies.)

Later, sources in BGR Energy confirmed to Business Line that the prospective collaborator is indeed Foster Wheeler.

They, however, said that a lot of negotiations are yet to be covered before a partnership agreement is signed.

Foster Wheeler, which has supplied equipment for over 1,10,000 MW of capacity across continents, has a back office in India for design work.

It was to have supplied equipment to the 1,000 MW lignite-based Jayamkondan project in Tamil Nadu, when Reliance bagged the contract for that project.Foster Wheeler’s expertise is in CFBC technology. CFBC boilers can burn any type of fuel — such as a combination of imported and indigenous coals, lignite and refinery residue.

Demand in India for CFBC boilers are expected to grow mainly because of this flexibility.

For example, Neyveli Lignite Corporation is putting up two units of 250 MW using CFBC boilers. Coastal Energen of the Dubai-based ETA group is planning to put up four units of 350 MW each, again with CFBC boilers.

Foster Wheeler has supplied over 300 CFBC boilers globally. The shortage of power equipment manufacturing capacity in India has attracted many domestic and international players to set up facilities.

L&T-Mitsubishi Electric, Cethar Vessels with technology from Riley Power of the US, and the joint venture of NTPC and BHEL are some examples.

BGR Energy, an engineering company that specialises in supplying ‘balance of plant (BoP)’ for power projects, has been saying for some time that it would get into the manufacture of boilers and turbines also.

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