in Tiruchendur Taluk of Tuticorin District with two units of 800 MW each. The plant will be built through turbines using the supercritical technology. The company  on 27-11-2008 announced that it has formed a joint venture to set up a thermal power plant in Tamil Nadu . BHEL signed the agreement with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) in Chennai on 27-11-2008.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi graced the JV signing ceremony. The JV agreement was signed by K. Ravi Kumar, Chairman and MD, BHEL and Machindranathan, Chairman, TNEB in the presence of Thiru Arcot N. Veeraswami, Minister for Electricity, Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

The company has partnered with TNEB to set up the plant with two units of 800 MW each. The plant will be built through turbines using the supercritical technology. Steam turbines based on supercritical technology use less energy and generate higher pressure for greater efficiency than traditional plants.

The land for the project, proposed to be set up at Udangudi in Tiruchendur Taluk of Tuticorin District, has already been identified. With a total capital outlay of around Rs87bn, the project will be the first supercritical power project to be installed in the state of Tamil Nadu and will strengthen the power availability in the southern state.

The boilers and the turbine generators for the utility in Tamil Nadu will be manufactured in technical collaboration with Alstom SA, the world’s third-biggest power-plant builder, and Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, respectively, BHEL said in a statement.

The Boilers and auxiliaries will be manufactured by BHEL at its Tiruchirapalli and Ranipet works in Tamil Nadu. These 800 MW coal-fired units will be able to harness the multiple benefits of higher plant efficiencies and economies of scale and will generate electricity in an environment friendly manner.

The present installed power generating capacity in Tamil Nadu is 10,122 MW, of which 5,808 MW is contributed by BHEL sets. The proposed 1,600 MW capacity to be contributed by Udangudi power project will give a boost to the developmental efforts of the Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

BHEL has already bagged major orders for power generating equipment with supercritical parameters, from NTPC for the 2x660 MW Barh Thermal Power Project Stage-II, and from APGenco for the 2x800 MW Krishnapatnam Power Project.