Recent power plant contract awards

Argentina

• UK company Rolls-Royce has won a contract to supply a power unit to the world’s most southerly city. The gas turbine will be installed in a power station in the city of Ushuaia in the Argentine state of Tierra del Fuego, the main port to service the Antarctic region.

The RB211 6562 will be supplied to Direccion Provincial del Energia, the local electricity utility. It will operate on gas and liquid fuel and is due to enter service this summer. Rolls-Royce’s contract includes supply of a gas compressor, spares and supervision of installation and commissioning. The turbine generator set will complement existing equipment at the power station in Ushuaia where it will support the demand from a growing population and the tourist industry.

France

• Alstom has signed a deal with Panda Energy worth $150 million to supply 20 heat recovery steam generators, four of which are on option, for gas-fired combined cycle projects in the USA. The units will be delivered over the next two years.

The first eight steam generators will be installed in a 2200 MW power plant in El Dorado, Arkansas. The project is a joint venture between Panda Energy and TECO Power Services. The agreement with Alstom allows for the use of a reference plant design to lower costs but will still encompass site specific design changes.

Germany

• Steag AG has ordered a 34 MW Marc 6-C14 condensing turbine with a controlled extraction and condensing unit from B+V Industrietechnik. The modular steam turbine unit will enter service in 2003 when it is destined to supply power and heat to Germany’s fourth largest oil refinery in Kîln Godorf. The plant will be operated by Raffinerie-Kraftwerk Shell GmbH, a Shell-Steag joint venture.

Malaysia

• SKS Ventures Sdn Bhd has selected GE Power Systems to supply power island equipment and long-term services for a power plant in Prai, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. The 350 MW combined cycle station will employ a MS9001FA gas turbine, heat recovery steam generator and steam turbine supplied by GE. Installation and erection of the plant will be carried out by Japanese company Sumitomo Corp.

GE will, additionally, supply parts, services and repairs under a 19 year service agreement. Power from the new station will be sold to the Malaysian national utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). Commercial operation is scheduled for March 2003. TNB plans to install an additional 1000 MW each year over the next five years to meet growing demand.

Sweden

• Forsmark Kraftgrupp AB has placed an order with Westinghouse Atom for maintenance services at its three boiling water reactor units – Forsmark 1, 2 and 3 – to be performed during a planned outage this summer. The contract involves refuelling floor work and servicing of the main circulation pumps and valves of all three units. Total value is put at around $1.5 million.

The project will involve around 50-70 Westinghouse employees for each reactor. The Swedish reactors have an annual shutdown for refuelling and servicing, usually during the summer when electricity demand is low and prices are reduced. The three Forsmark units were originally built by Westinghouse.

Turkey

• The Turkish Electricity Generation and Transmission Corp (TEAS) has placed an order with the Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution Group for a new control system for the country’s 154 kV and 380 kV transmission networks. The contract for supply and installation of the system is valued at $18 million.

Installation will involve renewal and expansion of all the hardware and software in the energy management system in each of the country’s six regional load-dispatching centres.

The aim of the project is to reduce power outages and optimise generation schedules. In addition, Siemens claims, the system will allow TEAS to conform to new legal requirements laid down with deregulation of the energy market in Turkey. It is scheduled to become operational in mid 2004.

The control system will be based on Sinaut Spectrum energy management technology.

UK

• Logica and GPU Power Distribution have signed a contract for a new asset management transformation programme. Logica, which will run the programme, claims it will allow GPU Power Distribution – the company which owns and operates the electricity distribution network for GPU Power UK, formerly Midlands Electricity – to increase network performance with lower capital investment and operating costs.

The programme will encompass data acquisition, performance management, investment planning and solution generation. Underpinning it will be a core asset management system supplied by Logica. This will include a core asset register based on modules from the software company’s mySAP.com suite.

UAE

• Siemens Power Generation has secured a contract to supply three gas turbines, two steam turbines, five generators and electrical and instrumentation and control equipment for the Jebel Ali power station in the United Arab Emirates. They will also supply instrumentation and control equipment for the allied seawater desalination plant and Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution will provide high voltage switchgear for the project.

Jebel Ali, 50 km from Dubai, comprises a series of power and desalination units with a combined electrical capacity of nearly 2000 MW and a daily output of 530 m3 of desalinated water. The new complex will have a power generating capacity of 850 MW and a daily desalination output of 230 000 m.3 The general contractor for the project is the Italian company Enelpower, with Fisia Italimpanti responsible for the desalination facility. The project is expected to cost a total of $445 million, Siemens’ contribution being worth worth $125 million.

USA

• GE Aeroderivative and Package Services has received a contract from Willamette Industries in Portland, Oregon, to exchange the latter’s LM6000 PA gas turbine for a new PC Sprint model. GE will also upgrade and modify the existing LM6000 PA package at Willamette’s Albany power mill in Albany, Oregon.

The new unit is expected to achieve a 10 per cent increase in output and a 5 per cent reduction in heat rate. As part of the contract, GE will also provide a new Mark VLM control system.

The existing LM6000 PA has been operating in a combined cycle cogeneration mode since 1994, generating power and steam for the Albany mill. Excess power is sold to the local grid. The turbine is fired with natural gas, with distillate fuel as backup. Water injection is employed to control the emission of nitrogen oxides.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has signed a contract with Framatome ANP to supply TVA’s nuclear units with fuel assemblies using low-enrichment uranium derived from uranium originally produced for military purposes. The fuel pellets will be fabricated from highly enriched uranium that will be blended will less enriched material to create uranium suitable for use in commercial reactors. The project is part of a US Department of Energy programme to reduce existing stockpiles of highly enriched uranium formerly used to produce nuclear weapons.