Solar Power Equipment Project of BHEL

The cheaper equipment imported from China have become a threat for Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited’s solar power equipment project.

            The Chinese dominate the manufacturing segment in the world market, and have a share of about 57% using crystalline technology as per one estimate. This is affecting photo-voltaic (PV) manufacturers worldwide. Presently it is estimated that the globle production capacity for solar power items/ equipment is in excess of the demand worldwide. This overcapacity coupled with cheaper prices offered of the Chinese manufactured cells & modules is a threat for Indian solar equipment manufacturers including BHEL.

            Government of India has taken following steps under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) to protect Indian Solar Power Equipment Manufacturing Industry:

            All Solar Power Developers under phase-I of JNNSM, using Crystalline Silicon Technology, are required to procure Cells and Modules manufactured in India.

            As per Government of India, Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), Notification No. 25/1999 – Customs dated the 28^th February 1999 (G.S.R. 161 (E) dated the 28^th February 1999) Custom Duty Exemption is extended on goods required for manufacturing of Solar Cell and Modules.

            Further, all items of machinery required for initial setting up of a solar power generation project or facility are fully exempt from excise duty under Notification No. 15/2010-CE dated 27.02.2010 subject to fulfillment of certain conditions mentioned therein. Moreover, such goods enjoy concessional rate of customs duty of 5% adv. Vide Notifications No. 1/2011 Customs, dated 06.01.2011.

            The above information was given by the minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Shri Praful Patel to the Parliament.

Wonder Cement Gets Better Flexibility Through Citrix Solutions

Wonder Cement Ltd, a Rajasthan based cement manufacturing major, today announced the implementation Citrix server, desktop and application virtualization solutions resulting in better flexibility ease of manageability and significant savings for the organization.

            Promoted by R.K. Marble Group, an industry leader in mining and marble processing. Wonder Cement Ltd was established as their most recent venture for cement manufacturing.

            The company opened a new manufacturing plan at Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, with a capacity to produce 2.5mn metric tons of cement per annum. Even though R.K. Marble Group has various home-grown IT solutions in place, they realized the need for a consolidated IT infrastructure while foraying into the cement manufacturing business.

            Commenting on this deployment, ArunAttri, General Manager-IT, Wonder Cement Limited, said “Rather than opting for a physical IT infrastructure overhaul, we decided to invest in server, desktop and application virtualization which has paid rich dividends. Citrix solutions delivered unparalleled performance and helped us significantly to reduce operational costs, capital expenditure while strengthening security, manageability and mobility requirements of our organization.”

            Sanjay Deshmukh, Area Vice President, India Subcontinent – Citrix said, “It is extremely encouraging to see companies in smaller towns of India make a progressive decision of choosing Citrix Desktop Virtualization and Server Virtualization solutions. We will support Wonder Cements to improve productivity and flexibility for users and also to reduce cost of managing IT by consolidating and virtualizing desktops and servers.

            Citrix orchestrated the process of building the IT infrastructure by virtualizing applications and desktops through Citrix XenApp and Citrix XenDesktop, which were hosted on the virtual Citrix interface. A clear strategic phased roadmap was devised for the implementation.

            In the first phase that was completed in just one week, the seven pre-existing blade servers were virtualized into multiple virtual servers, to support all of the company’s applications such as e-mailing Blackberry Enterprise Server, Share Point Portals, HRMS, IP based Surveillance etc. The company derived 60% saving on power consumption; thus further reducing its carbon footprint.

            The solution also provided Wonder Cement with the much-needed flexibility. Whenever there is a need to provision a new server, the IT team requires deploying virtual machine from snapshot and another server instance is ready within a matter of an hour. In the second phase, the company deployed Citrix XenApp that centralized applications and delivered it to remote users instantly and securely.

            The solution was able to provide an uptime of around 98.5% to the business. Thirdly the company virtualized 100 desktops at the manufacturing plan to deliver desktops and applications that are customized to meet the performance security and mobility requirements of every individual user.

            By replacing traditional desktops with Citrix XenDesktop, the IT team can now manage and update both operating system and applications from a single location. Replicating its success, the company plans to ramp up its virtual desktops from 100 to 600 over the next two years.