OREANDA-NEWS. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has achieved a landmark in the South-East Asian region by commissioning a 100 MW hydro power generating set in Vietnam. The first unit of 100 MW was successfully commissioned at the 2x100 MW Nam Chien Hydro Power Project in Vietnam.

BHEL had made its maiden entry in the rapidly growing Vietnamese Hydro Power Sector by winning the contract for Nam Chien Hydro Power Project in Vietnam. The order had been placed on BHEL by Nam Chien Hydropower Joint Stock Company of Vietnam, a joint stock company, with Song Da Corporation, one of the largest companies under the Ministry of Construction and Petro-Vietnam, the state-owned giant Oil and Gas group, as major stakeholders.

Funded by the Government of India’s Line of Credit to the Government of Vietnam and administered by the Exim Bank of India, the contract envisaged design, engineering, manufacture, supply and supervision of installation and commissioning of the complete Electro-mechanical equipment package for the hydro power project comprising two Pelton type hydro generating units of 100 MW each. The major equipment supplied for the project includes hydro turbines, generators, transformers, controls, monitoring and protection system and switchgear.

Son La province of Vietnam, shall benefit immensely with the completion of the Nam Chien hydro power project, located in the Muong La district, 350 km north of Hanoi.

Vietnam is one of Asia’s fastest growing countries, with annual growth averaging 7.5% over the past decade and with its electricity sector expected to grow at 16% annually. This success opens a huge market potential for BHEL not only in the hydro segment but also in the thermal and gas based power plant segments in Vietnam which will witness huge capacity additions in the future.

Significantly, to date, BHEL has contracted equipment for about 550 units of hydro power equipment, enabling generation of more than 26,000 MW of power, out of which, equipment for about 5,000 MW generation capacity has been contracted outside India.

Other BHEL hydro installations overseas include Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Nepal and Bhutan. BHEL is also currently executing Hydro projects in Rwanda, Afghanistan, Vietnam, DR Congo and Bhutan.