Industrial equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd said it won its biggest ever solar power plant contract to set up a 75 megawatt farm in Gujarat.
The order from Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL) was won against “stiff competitive bidding,” the company said.
BHEL has the lion’s share of the power equipment market in India, but has a very small share in the emerging areas of wind and solar.
Most of BHEL’s power business is focused on thermal power sector, which is in the ‘sunset’ phase as the viability of new plants in thermal power are called into question due to the continued fall in prices of solar and wind equipment.
The 75-MW order is small by industry standards, which is used to 200 and 300 MW orders.
The plant will be located at Gujarat Solar Park, Charanka, Gujarat.
With this order, BHEL’s solar portfolio has risen to 545 MW, the company said.
It said it is in the process of executing over 150 MW of ground-mounted and rooftop Solar PV projects across the country.
The company said it has enhanced its state-of-the-art manufacturing lines of solar cells to 105 MW and solar modules to 226 MW per annum.
In addition, space-grade solar panels using high efficiency cells and space-grade battery panels are being manufactured at its Electronic Systems Division, Bengaluru.
“BHEL is one of the few companies in India whose solar business is backed by a dedicated R&D team,” the government-controlled company said.