OREANDA-NEWS. January 23, 2013. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has achieved a significant milestone in Africa with the successful commissioning of its first Steam Turbine Generator (STG) Unit in Ethiopia. Significantly, this is also the company’s first STG set to be commissioned in the African continent.

The STG set of 12 MW capacity, is the first unit of the 2x12 MW project to be commissioned at the Finchaa Sugar Factory for cogeneration application. The plant will supply process steam and power to the sugar factory and the excess power will be supplied to the Ethiopian Electricity Power Company.

Notably, BHEL had bagged the first ever order for Steam Turbine and Generators from Ethiopia from Finchaa Sugar Factory (2x12 MW) and Tendaho Sugar Factory (2x20MW & 2x40MW) for cogeneration application. This was also the largest overseas order for cogeneration application secured by BHEL.

The successful execution of this project will further enhance BHEL’s long-term visibility as an EPC contractor of Power Plant equipment, which will pave the way for similar opportunities from the sugar industry in Africa.

BHEL has engineered, manufactured and supplied the Steam Turbine Generator unit from its Hyderabad Plant and has provided the state-of-the-art control system from its Bangalore works. The civil works, erection and commissioning of the plant has also been executed by BHEL.

BHEL’s Global reference spreads across 75 countries and includes the entire gamut of BHEL’s products and systems such as Power plants (Thermal, Gas and Hydro), Turbines, Generators, Sub-stations, Transformers, Motors, Photo Voltaic modules, Oil Field equipment and Transportation equipment, etc. The cumulative overseas installed capacity of BHEL manufactured power plants exceeds 9,000 MW in 22 countries. BHEL is currently executing various power projects in as many as 19 countries to install 5,000 MW of generating equipment worth over USD 2 Billion.

The company is taking a number of strategic business initiatives to fuel further growth in its overseas business. This includes firmly establishing itself in target export markets, positioning of BHEL as a regular EPC contractor in the global market, both in the utility and IPP segments, and exploring various opportunities for setting up overseas joint ventures & marketing offices, etc.