BHEL mark milestone in Vietnam as part of Asian growth strategy

BHEL announced that it has commissioned a first unit of the 2×100 MW Nam Chien hydro project in Vietnam. The hydro power generating set is a development that is likely to open up more opportunities for the state-run major in the fast-growing market.

“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,” Bhel said in a statement.

One of the fastest growing economies, Vietnam’s power sector is expected to see an annual growth of 16 percent.

“The major equipment supplied for the project includes hydro turbines, generators, transformers, controls, monitoring and protection system and switchgear,” the statement said. Chien Hydropower Joint Stock Company of Vietnam had awarded the contract to BHEL.

The Vietnam project is funded by the Indian government. BHEL had the mandate to design, engineering, manufacture, supply and supervision of installation and commissioning of the complete electro-mechanical equipment package for the project.

Besides Vietnam, BHEL has hydro electric installations in Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Bhutan, Tajikistan, and Nepal.

According to the statement, the company is executing hydro projects in Rwanda, Afghanistan, Vietnam, DR Congo and Bhutan.

Till date, BHEL has contracted equipment for about 550 units of hydro power — having generation capacity of more than 26,000 MW. Out of the total, about 5,000 MW capacity has been contracted overseas.