HPGCL acknowledge poor quality Chinese equipment
Vinod Kumar Gupta, 11-Sep-2012 12:15:33 PM .
HPGCL acknowledge poor quality Chinese equipment

Tuesday September 11,2012

Chandigarh

The alleged poor quality of Chinese equipment / workmanship at thermal plants built by Reliance Infra has been acknowledged by Haryana generation Power Corporation Ltd.(HPGCL).

As per information obtained under RTI by Gurnek Singh Brar ,Chief Engineer Khedar thermal plant apprised Additional Chief Secretary Power in July about various instances of bursting/ damages of valves piping etc. due to poor quality of material/workmanship at
thermal plant which have never been heard in any other thermal plant of country.

It may be mentioned that at Yamuna Nagar thermal major equipment were damaged due to poor quality of material. Turbine blades of both units are under repair after extensive damage to them. Earlier unit was running at half load due to ESP problem for about one year. Turbine
blades at Khedar were also damaged which has now been repaired
locally.

As per design 6 coal mills are required for full load operation of unit. But actually 7 coal mills are being used even with the blending of imported coal. This has resulted in excess coal consumption. Thus dwindling coal stock at the Khedar thermal plant is a cause of worry
for HPGCL and may effect generation. According to sources the
thermal plant is practically running on hand to mouth coal stock and
is dependent upon the daily receipt of coal rakes.

As per minutes of meeting, difficulties are being faced by engineers in reading/ understanding the drawings of boiler, turbine and auxiliaries supplied by OEM china due to use of Chinese language at many places. HPGCL has decided to impart training to some of its engineers working at Yamuna Nagar to learn Chinese language so that they can easily interact with the representatives of Chinese firms and work is not hampered.

There is problem of spares for coal mills and proper blending of coal , forcing operation of 7 coal mills to achieve rated load.HPGCL authorities are facing problems in procurement of spares of Chinese
equipment.are also being faced in procurement of Chinese spares.