Wärtsilä will supply a 54.5 MW power plant for Madeira, Portugal. The order was placed in July by Empreasa de Electricidade de Madeira (EEM), a publicly owned energy company that generates and sells electricity throughout the island of Madeira.
The “Vitoria III” project, which is an extension of the existing Vitoria Thermal power plant, will supply electricity to the Madeira grid. Of the island's total installed capacity of 240 MW, 183 MW are already today provided by Wärtsilä power plants.
Wärtsilä’s share of the total turnkey contract is valued at nearly EUR 33 million. The balance of the contract will be supplied by Wärtsilä’s sales agent in Portugal, Energetus, with whom Wärtsilä has signed a consortium agreement for this project.
“This is an important contract that Wärtsilä is proud to have been awarded. The installation is challenging because of the plant’s location outside Funchal city centre with residential property nearby, and for this reason extra noise abatement measures are necessary. The modern technology that the reliable dual-fuel engines represent, together with low emissions, excellent fuel consumption and the support service that we can offer, were critical in our winning this contract,” commented Christer Strandvall, Wärtsilä’s Regional Director for Western Europe.
Wärtsilä will be responsible for supplying three of its Wärtsilä 18V50DF dual-fuel engines, the generators, most of the mechanical auxiliary equipment, emission reduction equipment, electrical control equipment, various buildings, as well as engineering services, supervision and plant commissioning.
The first engine is scheduled to be in commercial operation in December 2009, with the remaining two scheduled to become operational a year later in December 2010.
The three Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines each have a rated output of 16,600 kWe and will run on heavy fuel oil until such time as gas is available. The exhaust gases will, via heat recovery boilers, generate steam that will be used for the power plant’s internal fuel heating and for driving a steam turbine that will generate 3.4 MW of the total electrical output.
For further information, please contact:
Christer Strandvall
Regional Director, Western Europe
Wärtsilä Power Plants
Direct tel: +358 40 830 7732
e-mail: christer.strandvall@wartsila.com
Maria Nystrand
Public Relations Manager, Power Plants
Wärtsilä Corporation
Direct tel: +358 10 709 1456
e-mail: maria.nystrand@wartsila.com
Wärtsilä in brief
Wärtsilä enhances the business of its customers by providing them with complete lifecycle power solutions. When creating better and environmentally compatible technologies, Wärtsilä focuses on the marine and energy markets with products and solutions as well as services. Through innovative products and services, Wärtsilä sets out to be the most valued business partner of all its customers. This is achieved by the dedication of more than 17,000 professionals manning 160 Wärtsilä locations in 70 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on The Nordic Exchange in Helsinki, Finland.
