WCA May/July 2020

India Insight

Reorganising wiring Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd (MSSL) plans to separate its domestic wiring harness business into a newly-formed legal entity with mirror shareholding. The company said that MSSL’s board of directors has granted “in principle” approval for reorganisation of the business within the group. “The intent of the said reorganisation proposal is to meet [a] long-standing request from Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Japan (SWS) to keep their participation focused to [the] domestic wiring harness business in India,” the company said in an official statement. For SWS, the joint venture partner, the core area of interest will be the domestic wiring harness business. Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd www.motherson.com Widespread transmission contracts The power transmission and distribution business unit of Indian engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has the contract to build a 380kV substation in Saudi Arabia, together with its associated 230kV cable network and two transmission line corridors. Elsewhere in the Middle East, L&T has been contracted for the construction of extra-high voltage overhead lines. On its home turf, L&T has an order for the construction of a 765kV double circuit transmission line in the state of Gujarat, carrying power from renewable energy sources. Larsen & Toubro www.larsentoubro.com Global wind expected to drop Analysts expect the coronavirus pandemic to have a widespread impact on the global wind energy sector. Wood Mackenzie has reported that global wind additions will decline by 4.9GW during 2020, compared to previous projections; the impact is most likely to be felt in the USA and China. Total forecast additions for 2020 is now expected to reach 73GW. Dan Shreve, Wood Mackenzie’s head of global wind energy research, wrote in an online post that the coronavirus crisis was “unlike anything the market has ever seen,” with industry stakeholders forced to continually adapt business operations to comply with government containment measures, and ensure worker and client safety.

According to Wood Mackenzie, European tier I wind energy markets, such as Spain, France and Italy, could be hit even harder, on a percentage basis, due to more aggressive lockdown measures that inhibit worker mobility. However, the global nature of the wind energy supply chain means that suppliers have been able to leverage capacity in India, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere to limit the impact of China’s production shutdown. “Both production and construction in the China market are recovering rapidly, with local governments now encouraging local facilities to return to work as the outbreak is believed to be under control,” Mr Shreve said. Risks remain, particularly in Europe where factory closures will likely result in turbine installation delays, both domestically and, possibly, for the USA. Wood Mackenzie www.woodmac.com Fast finish to upgrade India’s JSW Steel approached Danieli Service to improve the performance of its bar mill at Vijayanagar Works. The result is two new rolling modules, added to an existing fast-finishing block that was previously supplied by Danieli and designed to accommodate future expansion from six to eight passes. The installation of the additional passes, together with an automation upgrade, took just one week and has achieved a 40m per second finishing speed for 10mm diameter bars. JSW can now produce small rebars, increasing the facility’s production flexibility. JSW Steel www.jsw.in Four-stroke generation MAN Energy Solutions will supply the generation technology for a new power plant in Chandpur, Bangladesh, having already completed three power plants in the cities of Bogra and Chittagong. Chandpur Power Generation will use four 18V51/60TS and two 20V45/60 four-stroke engines for its new plant in Chandpur, which will feed a total of 125MW into the national grid. The MAN 20V45/60 has an output of around 26MW per engine, and is not only powerful but also achieves high efficiency values with a fuel utilisation of over 50 per cent. The three power plants constructed in Bogra and Chittagong have been successfully handed over to the customer, Confidence Power. The plants use a total of fifteen 18V48/60 units. Two plants in Bogra will generate 113MW each to supply base-load electricity to the city, while the third power plant, in Chittagong, will feed 56MW into the city’s port grid. Chandpur Power Generation

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