Foster Wheeler Energia Oy will achieve a double world first in solid fuel combustion technology when its contract for the world's first supercritical circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler, which will also be the world's largest CFB unit, comes to completion. The contract announcement follows confirmation by Poland's Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny (PKE) that its (approximately) r150 million order for a 460 MWe boiler island for Lagisza power plant in southern Poland, placed at the end of last year, will feature supercritical CFB technology.
"The project marks a major step forward in the scale-up and development of [this] technology," according to Foster Wheeler Energia CEO Timo Kauranen. Built around once-through unit (OTU) supercritical technology, the plant is designed to provide what would be world-leading levels of efficiency and fuel economy, together with very low emissions, fully meeting the requirements of the EU's new large combustion plant (LCP) directive. The plant will use some 5 per cent less fuel per unit of electricity generated than conventional drum-based solid fuel-fired boilers.
"Achieving this improvement in a single step is a major achievement" says Kauranen. "An equivalent increase in fuel efficiency has typically taken up to 10 years of cumulative development work. By incorporating the supercritical steam process with [our] ... CFB technology, we will be offering PKE the very best in solid fuel combustion. Our modular design will enable us to offer even larger units of the same type in the future."
Foster Wheeler Energia Oy and its Polish subsidiary, Foster Wheeler Energia Polska Sp. z o.o. will execute the contract jointly. Pre-engineering work will start immediately, with start-up of the plant expected to take place in autumn 2006.
The new plant will bring new CFB-based generating capacity contracted by customers in Poland from Foster Wheeler since 1995 to almost 2500 MWe. This includes two deliveries to PKE, Poland's largest electrical utility, - two 70 MWe boiler plants at Jaworzno and a 120 MWe boiler plant at Katowice, commissioned in 1999 and 2000. Foster Wheeler's largest project in Poland, at Turów (1500 MWe), is over halfway to completion, with four units now in operation and two more under construction. A CHP plant at Elcho (224 MWe + 500 MW of district heat) is scheduled to begin commercial operation this spring.
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