The 300MW Nuevo Pemex Cogeneration Power Plant, the largest of its kind in Mexico, was inaugurated in October 2012. It is co-owned by Abengoa (60%) and GE Energy Financial Services (40%).
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It is located at the Nuevo Pemex gas processing facility near Villahermosa, Tabasco, which is owned by Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), Mexico’s state-owned company that extracts and processes oil and gas.
The Nuevo Pemex Cogeneration Power Plant will provide energy to meet the entire electricity demands of the gas processing complex and will be Pemex’s first ever power procurement from the private sector.
Surplus power output from the plant will be supplied to nearby communities and other Pemex work centres through the national transmission network.
The cogeneration plant will also supply 55% of the steam required by the gas processing complex.
EPC contract for the cogeneration power plant of Nuevo Pemex
Followed by six years of initial planning and design, in August 2009, Pemex awarded the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract of the cogeneration plant to a consortium comprised of Abener and Abengoa México, both of which are subsidiaries of Abeinsa.
The contract also included the operation and maintenance of the plant for a concession period of 20 years.
Financing of Nuevo Pemex cogeneration power project in Tabasco
The $640m cogeneration power project is financed through $460m of debt and $180m of equity investment.
Debt financing was provided by a group of lenders including Banobras, Santander, Scotiabank, La Caixa, Banco Espirito Santo, Credit Agricole, Export Development Canada and HSBC.
Abengoa and GE Energy are the equity investors in the cogeneration project, with respective contribution of $108m and $72m.
The financial scheme of the project was titled as the ‘Latin American Deal of the Year’ in 2010, by the Project Finance magazine.
Construction of Nuevo Pemex cogeneration plant
Construction of the cogeneration plant started in September 2009. The foundations of the turbine and generator units were built during the first year of construction. Works on the transmission lines and substations also began during this period.
The electric generators, gas turbines, power transformers and heat steam recovery equipments were delivered to the plant site by September 2011.
The Abener ad Abengoa Mexico consortium successfully completed the plant’s construction in 2012 with the help of around 2,000 workers.
Nuevo Pemex cogeneration plant details
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The Nuevo Pemex cogeneration plant in Tabasco will use natural gas supplied by Pemex to produce electrical energy. Heat from the turbine exhaust gases will be recovered and used for converting demineralised / condensed water into steam. The plant is expected to generate up to 800t of steam per hour.
The estimated total sale of electricity and steam from the plant over 20 years of concession period is valued at $2,180m. The cogeneration technology used will cut CO2 emissions by 940,000t.
Two GE -7FA multi shaft gas turbines are used by the plant. The GE Frame 7FA gas turbine technology has a successful operational history of more than 45 million hours worldwide.
The 7FA gas turbines are equipped with an advanced compressor, DLN 2.6 Combustor, and advanced hot gas path (HGP).
In addition, the plant has two heat recovery units for steam generation.
Contractor involved with the cogeneration power project of Nuevo Pemex
AG-Ingeniería along with IDOM was awarded the turnkey engineering contract for Nuevo Pemex Cogeneration Plant.
CH2M HILL served as the owner’s engineer for the cogeneration facility.
GE supplied the gas turbines for the cogeneration plant, with the gas turbines contact also including 20 years of service and maintenance.
The heat recovery steam generators for the cogeneration plant were supplied by Cerrey.
Telvent provided the distributed control system (DCS) for monitoring and regulation of the cogeneration operation of the power plant.
Kentech Mexico carried out the electrical erection works of the cogeneration power project.
