New Delhi, July 10 (IANS): State-run power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) on Friday said it has commissioned the second 500 MW unit at the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station in Tamil Nadu.

"Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the second 500 MW unit at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TPS)," the company said in a statement here.

The first unit of 500 MW was commissioned on March 10.

The Tuticorin project is situated near the city's Thoothukudi sea port. It has been set up by NLC Tamil Nadu Power Ltd (NTPL), a joint venture of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), on the shores of the Bay of Bengal.

Earlier stages of Tuticorin TPS comprise five units of 210 MW, all installed by BHEL in three phases between 1979 and 1992.

With this, BHEL's installed capacity has crossed 155 gigawatt and the company has joined the elite club of global manufacturers who have supplied equipment for more than 150 GW, it said.

The company commissioned 8,230 MW in the power utility segment during the fiscal 2014-15, surpassing by 19 percent its capacity addition target of 6,914 MW set by the government, the statement added.

BHEL has, in total, commissioned and synchronised 11,941 MW in the domestic and international markets in the last fiscal, besides contributing to another 1,600 MW by commissioning two boilers of 800 MW each.