Alstom wins turbine contracts

News

Alstom has been awarded contracts to supply two GT26-based combined cycle power plants in the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

Alstom

has been awarded contracts to supply two GT26-based combined cycle power plants, including a total of nine GT26 gas turbines, in the

UK

and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In the UK, Alstom signed a contract valued at €850m with RWE npower for the construction and the maintenance support of a turnkey combined-cycle power plant at Staythorpe, central England. Under the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, Alstom will design, supply, install and commission the 1,650MW gas power plant. The contract also includes a long term spare parts agreement.

The Staythorpe power plant is a part of RWE’s plan to renew its generation portfolio with more efficient and more environmentally friendly plants. According to Andrew Duff, group chief executive officer of RWE npower, ‘The investment in this new power plant to be built by Alstom will put us on track to reduce the amount of CO2 we emit per unit of power generated by one third by 2015 compared to 2000, and by one half compared to 1990 levels.’

In the United Arab Emirates, an Alstom-led consortium was awarded a €1.6bn project to build a 2,000MW power and 591 million litre desalination plant. The power station will be built around Alstom’s GT26 gas turbine and marks the first time that this technology has been sold in the region. Alstom’s share of the project is worth €1bn. The booking of the contract is expected in the second half of fiscal year 2007/08 after the final closing of the project is completed.

The plant, located in Qidfa, in the Emirate of Fujairah, will support the fast-growing need for potable water and electricity in the northern Emirates and is expected to be operational by mid-2010.

According to Alstom, the flexibility of the sequential combustion GT26 gas turbine combined with Alstom's plant integrator capabilities allow the power plants to be designed to meet their unique power needs . The Staythorpe plant will be able to vary power output, while maintaining low emissions and high efficiency, to meet the daily variations in electricity demand. Similarly, the Fujairah plant will be able to operate over a wide range of power outputs while maintaining full desalination capacity.