GE Steam Power on Tuesday said that it has inked a USD 165 million pact with state-run engineering firm BHEL to supply three nuclear steam turbines.

GE Steam Power has signed a USD 165 million contract with BHEL for the supply of three nuclear steam turbines out of six units for NPCIL’s domestic nuclear program- phase 1 being developed at Gorakhpur, Haryana (Units - 1 to 4 (GHAVP)) and Kaiga (Kaiga-5&6) Karnataka, a company statement said.

This domestic program includes 12 units of 700 MWe being developed by NPCIL with their own nuclear reactor technology which is Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). In total, it will represent 8.4GW of CO2-free electricity for the country, enough to power more than 14 million homes, it stated.

In 2018, GE and BHEL had signed a business cooperation agreement and a License and Technology Transfer Agreement to enable them to manufacture nuclear steam turbines of 700 MW.

The two companies are well positioned to respond to the country’s needs for a lower carbon source of energy. Supporting the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative launched by the government of India, GE will manufacture the nuclear steam turbines at its facility in Sanand, Gujarat. These turbines are being engineered and manufactured with an improved design for enhanced output that will meet the requirements of the customer.