Wärtsilä has been awarded the contract to supply the engineering, equipment and construction for a power plant to be delivered for Hail Cement, a Saudi Arabian cement manufacturer. The power plant will provide electricity for the customer’s own industrial use.
Wärtsilä’s scope of supply under this turnkey contract includes seven Wärtsilä 20V32 generating sets, providing a total output of some 52MW. The engines will run on heavy fuel oil (HFO), but can switch to light fuel oil (LFO) as a back-up fuel. The equipment is scheduled to be delivered during 2012, and the complete construction of the plant is scheduled to take approximately 15 months to complete.
This turnkey project is yet another case whereby Wärtsilä technology is used to provide energy for Saudi cement works. Already approximately 70% of the country’s cement manufacturing facilities are powered by Wärtsilä power plants.
“As Saudi Arabia develops its infrastructure and continues to construct more housing, the need for cement is obviously increasing. Wärtsilä is pleased to support this development by providing reliable, cost competitive, and efficient distributed power that enables the country’s cement manufacturers to operate effectively. Our proven technology and strong track record, even in areas with very demanding climatic conditions, are the basis of our competitive edge,” says Lars-Åke Kjell, regional director (Middle East) at Wärtsilä Power Plants.
“A key requirement in awarding this contract was that the generating equipment could reliably operate with undiminished efficiency in the hot and sandy conditions that prevail in Saudi Arabia,” says Mr Matar Ali Al Zahrani, president of Hail Cement Company, Saudi Arabia.
Wärtsilä was able to prove its ability to meet this need as it already has a strong presence in the country, with almost 1,400MW of capacity installed. Furthermore, nine of these power plants, with an output of 330MW, are being operated by Wärtsilä under operation and management service agreements. This presence is likely to continue to increase as power demand in Saudi Arabia is increasing by more than 7% per year, and new generating capacity is being added.
Globally, Wärtsilä has delivered 4,500 power plants in 168 countries totalling over 47GW.