Recent power plant contract awards

Brazil

Rolls Royce is to supply two gas turbines for a combined cycle heat and power station in Brazil. The contract, with the Portuguese national power company, Electricidade de Portugal (EDP), is worth around $45 million.

Under the terms of the deal, Rolls Royce will supply two RB211 units to a Petrobras fertilizer factory at Fafen, Bahia. EDP will operate the plant which will supply power and steam to the Petrobras facility and to other local industrial users.

The two gas turbines will fire a heat-recovery steam generator and steam turbine to produce electricity and steam. The facility is due to become fully operational in early 2002. The project falls under the Brazilian government's Thermal Electric Programme which is designed to promote the installation of thermal power stations to supplement hydropower when water levels in the country's rivers become low.

Bangladesh

Caterpillar is to provide four gas reciprocating engines and ancillary equipment rated at 11 MW in total to each of three power plants in Bangladesh. The plants will sell the electricity mainly to rural cooperatives located in areas currently underserved by power suppliers. United Summit Power Co Ltd will develop, own and operate the projects but finance has been organised by the Ex-Im Bank which specialises in financing arrangements that will help position US exporters favourably in developing countries.

Canada

Alstom will supply power generation units for a new power plant in Sarnia, Ontario. The plant will be fired with natural gas.

TransAlta Energy Corp has placed the order, worth more than $66 million, for three 115 MW GT11N2 gas turbines and a 120 MW VAX LP 50 steam turbine for its 440 MW generating station. The Canadian company will build, own and operate the facility which is expected to start commercial operation in the autumn of 2002.

India

Dynex Power Inc is to supply power thyristors for a new hvdc transmission system being built in India by Altsom Transmission and Distribution. The new system will be used to enable exchange of power between two regions of India.

The project is worth around $45 million, of which Dynex Power's share is around $3 million. The latter will supply water cooled banded-pair thyristors for the 500 MW project, designed to link India's northern and eastern regional electricity networks. The eastern region has an energy surplus while the northern region is short of power. Construction is due to start immediately. The project should be completed by September 2002.

Japan

Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by Fuji Electric Co to supply two sets of 6 MW circulating fluidized bed boilers for a plant that will burn refuse-derived fuel (RDF). According to Foster Wheeler this will be the first such plant to be built in Japan. The contact is valued at around $15 million.

The waste plant will be constructed in Mie Prefecture, 130 km east of Osaka. It will burn 200t/day of RDF. The two boilers will generate steam at 6.2MPa and 443oC to power a 12 MW condensing steam turbine. The plant has attracted support from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan. Fuel for the station will be derived from municipal waste collected from Mie Prefecture and the surrounding area. Construction of the power station is due to begin next year with completion scheduled for December 2002.

Malaysia

GB3, a fully owned subsidiary of the largest independent power producer in Malaysia, Malakoff Berhad, has placed a turnkey order with Alstom for a 650 MW combined cycle power station. The plant will be built at the Lumut Power Plant in Perak. The order is worth around $300 million.

The new power plant will comprise three 165 MW GT23E2 gas turbines, three heat recovery steam generators and a steam turbine. The combined cycle block will be constructed in phases so that the three gas turbines begin generating power in late 2001 or early 2002 in simple cycle mode. Combined cycle operation is slated for early 2003.

The new 650 MW system will be the third combined cycle block at Lumut. Each of the earlier blocks had a generating capacity of 650 MW. Malakoff has a total generating capacity in Malaysia of 2000 MW.

Norway

The Norwegian companies Statoil and Norsk Hydro have awarded two GE companies, Nuovo Pignone and GE Aeroderivative and Package Services, a contract to provide repair and field services for all the two companies' GE aeroderivative gas turbines.

The four year agreement carries an option for a two year extension. It covers at least 85% of depot repairs and field service for 87 GE LM2500 and LM2500+ turbines plus ten spare engines on Statoil and Norsk Hydro North Sea production platforms.

Norsk Hydro and Statoil decided to pool their inventories of rotable exchange modules and engines and initiated a bid process for their maintenance. The two GE companies won that bid, with Nuovo Pignone as the oil/gas lead. The contract is structured as a framework-type agreement, setting depot and field service pricing levels and repair turnaround times.

Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian utility SEC-C (Saudi Electric Company - Central Region) has placed an order with Alstom for the conversion of the Riyadh 8 power plant to duel fuel operation. The conversion will enable SEC-C to comply with government instructions for power producers to use natural gas supplied by the Arabian American Company.

The Riyadh 8 plant comprises twenty GT11D5 gas turbines which were installed in the early 1980s. The units have operated at base load burning crude oil. After conversion the gas turbines will burn natural gas as their primary fuel.

The gas will be supplied from a pipeline currently under construction to bring the fuel from the eastern region of the Kingdom of Riyadh. The 20 machines are due to start burning natural gas in the spring of 2001. The contract is worth $18 million.

Sweden

ABB has won a contract to complete a backup power system for the MAS University Hospital in Malmo, Sweden. The project involves building four power stations within the hospital grounds, each with two separate systems, and a complete electrical distribution system.

USA

Washington Group International is to provide engineering and procurement services to Consolidated Edison Co of New York for the repowering of its East River Generating Station in New York City. The project will represent the first plant addition by Consolidated Edison in more than 15 years.

Repowering of the East River plant will involve installation of two dual-fuel GE 7FA gas turbines, two supplementary fired heat recovery steam generators and associated equipment. The system will provide 1.4 million kg/h of steam for Consolidated Edison's steam distribution system and up to 288 MW of power to the local electricity distribution network.

The new units will be installed into a powerhouse built during the 1920s. They will be fitted with emission control systems to meet the local emission standards. Operation of the repowered plant is scheduled for the summer of 2002.