Power will be a big business driver for Atlas Copco

Atlas Copco recently launched five new air compressors for applications across diverse industry segments. T&D India caught up with Conrad Latham, General Manager, Compressor Technique, Atlas Copco India, at the launch ceremony to know more about the new rollouts, as well as to understand Atlas Copco’s engagement in the power sector. Latham, in a freewheeling conversation with Venugopal Pillai, explains that thermal power is one of the key business segments for his company and that the ongoing global drive of controlling pollution in coal-fired power plants spells a big opportunity for Atlas Copco.

Let us start by understanding the role of Atlas Copco products in the power sector.

Power is one of our most interesting segments, if we analyze our business in its totality. Thermal power is the main sub-segment.

The predominant use of Atlas Copco equipment in power generation is the air compressor. First, it is for the conveying of the fly ash. The second one is in instrumentation, which means opening and closing of the actuator valves. There are other (smaller) applications in power plants. In all power plants that we know, we have a strong presence.

The other part of power that we are working, developing and moving forward is the pollution control, which is flue gas desulphurization (FGD). This is an area where we see high potential for our blowers.

 

How do you see the market for FGD?

What is seen for example is that the Indian government is working very closely with companies like GE and Mitsubishi. BHEL is working with these companies as well as Sinotec from China. What is already clear is that there are other countries like USA, Germany and even China, which have gone to the FGD market, and developed technologies. These countries have been using thermal power for many years and have made sure that they use FGD. This technology is coming to India as well. When we speak to companies like NTPC, they are identifying partners for FGD. GE, for instance, has got major contracts in India.

 

Would you supply these systems to the contractor?

Yes, we would provide our compressor and blower solutions to FGD contractors.

 

How do you view the exports market for FGDs?

We are already working with companies that are selling FGD processes. We are already using our compressors in the USA, Germany, and China, to name a few, for companies like Sinotec, Mitsubishi, GE, etc. What we are doing here is to make sure that we localize the products that are used in FGD systems, proposed in India.

 

What is the extent of localization?

For power plants, we already have products that we are modifying for the fly ash conveying. The other products that we are looking to localize are based on demand. In the first instance, we will bring those machines from Antwerp and also from China. If the demand grows in India, and we see the opportunity, we will look to localize as soon as possible.

 

Tell us about the localization of products that are being launched today.

Four of the five products that we are launching today are localized in India. We believe that this (localization) is good for our customers in India. For one of the products—Piston compressors ATC 3-10 HP—we even did the global design and engineering here in India. This will be manufactured in India. This design will also be taken to our other manufacturing facilities. We also see opportunities for that product to be exported to other countries from India. We have two factories in Pune – Dapodi, set up in the 1960s, and the Chakan factory that was built in 2011. Both these factories have a strong eye for exports.

Some of these new launches will be for captive power plants, though not for large conventional power plants.

In Pune, we have our global engineering competency centre which is working for all the different businesses, across the world. The Pune centre has a focus on different elements of engineering, with the ultimate focus on R&D. It was built 17 years ago, and has now become very advanced. For some of key products, R&D is sometimes done in collaboration with Belgium or China.

One specific product we manufacture in India, predominantly only for exports, is the piston machine for CNG.

 

Can you elaborate on the CNG business?

CNG business is big in India. What we did is that we turned the global competency centre for piston manufacturing from Europe and brought it to India. We have the R&D and the global competence for CNG and other gases, here in India.

 

Do you sometimes import products from your overseas facilities to serve the Indian market?

Yes, for instance, one of the products that we have launched today, we have been bringing it from Antwerp. But because the demand is strong, we see the need to localize. This product is the GA75-L110 VSD+. This product was originally being taken from Belgium. But as the demand is growing here, we have decided to localize it.

 

What is the rough share of the power sector in the overall business of Atlas Copco?

We have five divisions. It is a significant portion for one of the divisions, which is the Oil Free Air Division of the Compressor Technique Business Area.

 

How do you see the growth ahead for power sector-related products of Atlas Copco?

We know that pollution control is coming in, and we see opportunity. In the conveyance of fly ash, cleanliness needs to be improved. There is a certain amount of pollution control that comes in there. When we talk with our partners, for instance Larsen & Toubro, they have their material handling business in Kolkata. We see good opportunity for them and us to do cleaning up of existing power plants. New technologies are coming in Germany and Italy. This cleaning-up technology will use a lot of our products.

We don’t see this growth in new power plants but in the retrofit of power control equipment. There is no easy way to take away coal from India, may be in the long term, but for now, pollution control of existing coal-fired plants is important.

 

For supercritical power plants, do you have special equipment?

Not really: for such plants, we merely need to upscale the blowers and compressors.

I would also like to mention nuclear power plants. We need reliable source of compressors for opening and closing of actuators. We have high level of sophistication. We work very closely with power plant owners and contractors to customize solutions. Nuclear power is a big business, not just in India but also globally.

 

Which countries are comparable to India, when it comes to power sector-related products?

China is a big market. It moved into the FGD market a few years ago. US had coal plants and did FGD quite a few years ago. UK, as well as Germany, is moving away from coal. The equivalent to India therefore would be China.