FGD in Asia shows no sign of slowing, is it time for India to realize potential?

The global revenues on new installations on the FGD market is expected to rise and fall over a range of $3-4 billion per year, but one market that is forecasting a consistent and strong growth throughout, is Asia

The reason for the substantial fluctuation on a global scale is the size of individual orders. The year 2014 will be a bigger year in the Americas segment due to the new Utility MATS rule. This requires compliance with hydrogen chloride emission limits. The FGD scrubbers remove both the SO2 and HCl. There are some new FGD systems in Latin America. Chile is installing a number of dry FGD systems.

In Europe there are some new coal-fired power plants and replacement of existing old FGD systems but no real investment opportunity, whilst Africa is showing little activity.

Asia is quite simply the big market. It will account for 50-70% of the total revenues over the three year period. China will be the largest Asian purchaser,  installing FGD with every new coal power plant. There are also a number of retrofit projects driven by tougher SO2 limits. The Japanese market is forecast to rebound due to an initiative to rely on coal to a greater extent afte tthe well documented nuclear issues.

India is an interesting market, that undoubtedly offers considerable long range potential, simply based on the vast number of coal plants being installed. Coal is going to play a huge role in the future Indian energy mix, although to date there have been only a few seawater scrubbers installed on plants such as Reliance’s Dahanu power plant and the JSW Ratnagiri, but most have no SO2 removal devices. Tougher regulations are anticipated in the very near future, so FGD companies are positioning themselves to pursue this market. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries partnership with BHEL is one example of this. Other international suppliers such as Alstom and Babcock are also active with proven technology.

In 2013, revenues in the Asian FGD market for new construction are expected to reach a staggering $2,128 million.