Wärtsilä Corporation won a EUR 7.6 million turn-key contract in December 2006 to deliver a 14 MWe power plant to the National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC) the biggest agricultural company in Saudi Arabia. The plant is due to be put into operation in June 2008.
The new plant will be installed at Haradh project site (280 km from Riyadh). The Haradh project is an agricultural project and dairy farms project covering an area of 37,500 hectares and consists of five large cow farms and associated major industrial plants. The farms have some 25,000 to 30,000 cows, and the industrial plants process their milk into a wide range of high-quality dairy products such as milk, cheese, yoghurt, etc.
The new power plant will initially comprise two 7 MWe generating sets, each powered by an 18-cylinder Wärtsilä 32 engine. It will support the power production by an existing power plant with four 4.5 MWe sets of another make. The new plant will have provision to be extended later with another two generating sets. It will supply electricity to the NADEC farms and milk processing plants, as well as for NADEC’s housing area in Haradh.
Eng. Abdulaziz Bin Mohammad Al Babtain, CEO of NADEC clarified that “the new power plant will increase the electricity production at the Haradh project site to meet with the increasing loads due to new expansion projects in the industrial complex and the addition of new cow farms.” Mr. Al Babtain mentioned that owing to these expansions, this project is the first phase for the power plant expansion at Haradh project site which will be followed by other plant extensions coinciding with the future expansion plans of NADEC.
Wärtsilä will deliver all the electrical and mechanical equipment for the new power plant and has turn-key responsibility for the complete power plant, including its installation and commissioning, except for the civil works. In operation, the plant will be supported by Wärtsilä’s service network in Saudi Arabia.
An important factor in the change of generating plant at the NADEC Haradh site is the desire to reduce electricity-generating costs by changing from diesel oil fuel in the existing plant to heavy fuel oil. The Wärtsilä 32 engines are ideal for this purpose as they were designed from the outset for reliable, continuous, start-to-stop operation on heavy fuel oil with high efficiency and long times between overhauls. Wärtsilä power plants are also highly efficient which NADEC is hoping will reflect positively on the end products’ costs.
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 14,000 professionals manning 130 Wärtsilä locations in close to 70 countries around the world.
For further information, please contact:
Maria Nystrand
Public Relations Manager, Power Plants
Wärtsilä Corporation
Direct tel: +358 10 709 1456
Direct fax: +358 10 709 1425
e-mail: maria.nystrand@wartsila.com
Internet: www.wartsila.com