Wärtsilä has secured full notice to proceed with the delivery of engines for two new US-based power plants currently being developed by WEC Energy Group’s subsidiary Upper Michigan Energy Resources (UMERC).
Valued at around €80m, the order was originally announced in June this year. Wärtsilä will supply ten units of its 50SG engines, which operate on natural gas fuel.
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The engines are scheduled to be delivered by the latter half of next year, while the plants are expected to be commissioned by 2019.
Wärtsilä Energy Solutions US and Canada regional director Mikael Backman said: “Wärtsilä’s smart power generation solution will enable efficiency to be maintained across a broad range of output.
“It requires very limited use of water for cooling and the environmental footprint is small, plus the modularised solution means that additional capacity can easily be accommodated if needed.”
Situated in Negaunee and Baraga townships in Michigan, the UMERC power plants will be designed to produce a combined output of 188MW.
Following operations, the plants will be able to supply around 40,000 residential consumers and a large mining operation.
The plants will also replace an existing coal-fired power plant providing both baseload and intermittent power.
Wärtsilä has so far installed more than 3,000MW capacity across the US, and around 65GW worldwide.
