BHEL plans Rs 200 cr R

Hyderabad, Apr 12 (UNI) The Corporate Research and Development Group of the power major Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited proposes to increase its R&D kitty to Rs 200 crore to cope with mega R&D projects, including manufacturing of 800 MW thermal sets with super critical parameters even as its detailed project report on Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) using Indian Coal awaits clearance from the NTPC this year.

Spending Rs 149.8 crore on the Corporate R&D in 2005-2006, the group in the current year will focus on development of technologies and their successful demonstration before transfering them to manufacturing units.

The company is laying out plans for manufacturing 800 MW thermal sets with super critical parameters, higher rating hydro sets and advanced gas turbines. The Corporate R&D's major responsibility is to provide technological support for their effective implementation, Group General Manager S K Goyal told a media conference here today.

Posting Rs 46.88-crore business and filing 97 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)--84 patents and 13 copyrights--during the year, the Corporate R&D Group will set up over the next few months, the Centre of Excellence for Surface Engineering (CoE-SE) with Rs 8.4 crore and the Centre for Intelligent Machines and Robotics (CIMAR) with Rs 4.7 crore during the year.

After its pilot scale studies on the gasification technology for IGCC, successfully demonstated in its 6.2 MW plant at BHEL Tiruchirapalli, a DPR for setting up of a 125 MW IGCC plant at NTPC's Auraiya site is awaiting financial clearance from the NTPC Board.

MORE UNI DB ROY 1704