The contract for the Boiler Island has been given to L&T-MHI Boilers (LMBPL), the Steam Turbine Generator Island has been given to L&T. L&T would in turn source the equipment from its JV L&T-MHI Turbine Generators (LMTGPL). LMBPL and LMTGPL are both 51:49 joint ventures between L&T and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.

A private sector order for super-critical technology boilers in the country to non Chinese suppliers, Jaypee Group has entered into an agreement with L&T-MHI (JV between L&T Ltd. And Mitsubishi heavy Industries Limited, Japan) for supply of supercritical, more energy efficient Boiler, Turbines and Generator (BTG) packages for their Jaypee Nigrie Super Thermal Power project comprising 2 X 660MW super-critical unit being set up by Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited (JPVL) at a site in Nigrie village in Deosar Thehsil of Singrauli District in Madhya Pradesh.

The BTG package valued at INR40 billion has been awarded through International Competitive Bidding (ICB). The scheduled date of commissioning for unit I and unit II are 45 months and 51 months respectively.

Manoj Gaur, executive chairman of Jaiprakash Associates, said: “This is very prestigious project for the group, we will be investing INR80 billion (Financial closure already achieved with ICICI Bank as lead financial institution) for setting up the thermal power plant and we will be adding 2,000MW power generation capacity, comprising a mix of hydro and thermal, in the current five-year plan period ending 2012. We intend to take our total capacity to over 13,470 MW with a mix of thermal and hydro in 60:40 in less than seven years from now. As a group it has always been our endeavor to not only add capacities to our power generation but also to give the best of return on equity to our shareholders, our 300MW Baspa II HEP (Hydro-electric project) in Himachal Pradesh and 400MW Vishnuprayag HEP in Uttarakhand are already delivering 31%-35% ROE.”

L&T is investing approximately INR17 billion in these two JVs, it is also investing approximately INR16 billion in building manufacturing capabilities for other power plant equipment including critical piping, ESPs, coal pulverizes and heavy foundry. L&T also has a JV with Sargent & Lundy of USA for engineering of Power Plants.

The 1320MW Nigrie Thermal project is located in the Singrauli district in the State of Madhya Pradesh and is expected to comprise two 660MW units, each deploying supercritical technology and is expected to be commissioned in 2013. This project would be developed by JPVL.

The Nigrie Thermal Project is expected to utilize coal from two captive coal blocks, the Amelia (North) and Dongrital–II coal block with total coal reserves of 250 MT of coal. These coal blocks contain sufficient coal reserves to fuel the Nigrie Thermal project over the long term. JAL is expected to develop and mine this coal in a joint venture with MPSMCL.