Wärtsilä is commemorating 20 years of assisting the development of Bangladesh by providing important added capacity to the country’s electricity grid.
The latest contract signed this week is an equipment delivery for a 105MW power plant being built by Baraka Shikalbaha Power Ltd, a private sector energy provider and subsidiary of Baraka Group, to be located near the Karnaphuli river in Shikalbaha, Chittagong, in south-eastern Bangladesh. The order was booked by Wärtsilä in March and the delivery of the equipment is scheduled for October of this year.
The Government of Bangladesh is making a strong effort to increase the number of households with access to electricity. In 2016, only 76% of the country’s houses were connected to the grid, and the aim is to increase this to 98% by the year 2021.
As the nation’s economy develops, more electrical power is urgently needed to support this growth and, during the past 12 months, Wärtsilä has booked orders for ten new generating facilities in the country. Like many others, this delivery is being made on a fast-track basis to ensure that the new plant can be operational within the shortest possible time frame.
Baraka Shikalbaha Power Ltd managing director Mr Gulam Rabbani Chowdhury said: Wärtsilä has impressed us with the speed of its response to our need for generating equipment for this new plant.
“We appreciate this excellent cooperation from a company with whom we have done business earlier, and whose reputation for reliability and high quality is well known.”
Wärtsilä Bangladesh managing director Mr Jillur Rahim noted: “I think our track record in Bangladesh speaks for itself: repeat orders are the greatest endorsement of customer satisfaction, and our aim is always to be a trusted partner in meeting the needs of the project, however demanding.”
The contract scope includes six Wärtsilä 50 engines running on heavy fuel oil (HFO). The low heat rate of this engine was cited as another key consideration in the award of this order. Wärtsilä has earlier received an order from Baraka Power for six Wärtsilä 50 engines for another of its power plant projects.
Today, Wärtsilä provides about 25% of the total grid capacity in the country and, when fully operational in spring 2019, the new plant will bring Wärtsilä’s total power supply to Bangladesh to more than 4200MW.