Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) and GE India Industrial Pvt. Ltd. (GEIIPL), a 100% owned subsidiary of GE, USA, have joined hands for cooperation on Water Treatment Equipment.
To this effect, a Manufacturing Associate Agreement was signed by B.P. Rao, CMD of BHEL and by John Flannery, President and CEO of GEIIPL, in the presence of functional directors of BHEL and other senior officers from BHEL and GE.
As per the agreement, BHEL and GEIIPL will jointly engineer and supply water treatment solutions for the Indian market. Over the term of the agreement, through joint working, BHEL will acquire the capability to address large water treatment systems based on GE Products, on its own.
Availability of fresh water is increasingly becoming scarce. Consequently, power utilities and industries are required to necessarily recycle waste water or treat sea/brackish water to meet their requirement without depending on natural sources of fresh water. This trend is expected to generate a huge demand for water treatment equipment.
According to the Global Water Market 2011, the demand for water treatment systems in India over 2011-15, for power generation, potable water and waste water treatment would stand at approximately Rs. 180,000 Million. Out of this, the power sector alone would require water treatment systems worth Rs. 80,000 Million.
This partnership with GE will help BHEL provide more cost-effective membrane-based water treatment systems for boiler make up water, services water and potable water, required in power plants for all type of input water like sea water, brackish water and waste water.
These systems would also find applications in the industrial sector for meeting process water requirements. The rich experience and expertise of GE in the industrial sector would complement BHEL’s efforts in addressing this market.
The agreement covers membrane-based technologies like Reverse Osmosis, Ultra Filtration, Electrodialysis and Electrodeionisation which will enable BHEL to offer more value added products to its customers.
The water desalination products covered under the agreement shall be used for power plants (non-nuclear), industrial applications, potable water and municipal desalination plants.
