Sweden

• Jamtkraft has awarded a boiler contract for a new power plant at Lugnvik, Ostersund, to Foster Wheeler Energie Oy. The biofuel-fired circulating fluidised bed boiler will be supplied together with boiler house, fuel handling, complete automation and electrification and flue gas cleaning including condensing plant. Value of the contract is $29 million.

The new boiler island will be built adjacent to two district heating plants, also built by Foster Wheeler. The new plant will supply 45 MW of electricity and 80 MW of heat for the Ostersund district. Completion is scheduled for 2002.

The plant is expected to generate around 170GWh annually from biofuel. Swedish energy authorities will fund the project with around $13 million. The community of Ostersund is the major shareholder in Jamtkraft.

Thailand

• An international tender for construction of a cogeneration power plant in Thailand has been won by Belgian company Tractebel. The plant, with an electrical capacity of 13 MW and a thermal capacity of 54 MW, is to be built for the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. It will have an overall efficiency of 84 per cent, Tractebel claims. The cogeneration unit will supply 70t/h of steam to the gas processing plant at the Rayong refinery. The new facility will be integrated with existing equipment. The project is due to be completed in 16 months.

USA

• Proton Energy Systems has ordered a power conditioning subsystem from Sustainable Energy Technologies for a regenerative fuel cell energy storage system. Sustainable Energy will develop the 7.5 kW power conditioning subsystem for use in a demonstration of the technology which produces hydrogen from water using solar or wind-generated generated electricity. This hydrogen is then stored for use on demand in a fuel cell module where it produces further electricity.

The immediate application for such systems is to provide backup power to telecommunications, and similar, systems. The power conditioning subsystem provides the interface between the renewable energy sources, the hydrogen generator and the fuel cell modules. Proton Energy Systems designs proton exchange membrane hydrogen generating devices and fuel cells. The latter are aimed both at the power and the automotive markets.

USA

• GE Power Systems is to supply gas turbines, steam turbines and long-term service facilities for two independent power projects in the southeastern USA. The contracts, worth $460 million, have been placed by TECO Power Services, for two plants under construction in Dell, Arkansas and McAdams, Mississippi.

The two plants will have a total capacity of around 1200 MW. They are scheduled to enter service in 2002. Both will be connected to the Entergy transmission system and will be able to sell power to wholesale customers throughout the southeast and midwest of the USA.

For each plant, GE will supply two MS7001FA gas turbine generators and one steam turbine. Under separate contacts, GE will operate and maintain the plants and supply services for 12 years. This deal will cover both GE and non-GE equipment.

Saudi Arabia

• The Saudi Electricity Co has awarded a contract for the phase two of the Shoaiba power plant to Alstom. The French company is already building the initial phase of the station.

It was in October 1998 that Alstom received the contract for the first phase of Shoaiba, on the Red Sea 120km south of Jeddah. This involved construction of units 1-2 at the plant. The new contract is for units 4 and 5. These will comprise two 390 MW steam turbine generator sets and boilers.

The first unit of phase one is due to enter service in July 2001. Construction of phase two will begin immediately, with commercial operation scheduled for 2003.

Spain

• Rolls Royce is to supply seven gas engines for use in a cogeneration project at a fish farming facility at Aliaga in the Aragon region of Spain. The Bergen KVGS-18G3 lean burn gas engines will generate electricity for the Spanish national grid. Exhaust heat will be used in the farm’s production facility. The station is being built by Cinca Verde, part of the Barcelona-based Grupo Walter, a major independent power producer in Spain. The company already operates 13 Rolls-Royce engines at other power stations in the country.

Bangladesh

• A cement mill close to Dhaka, in the Narayanginji district of Bangladesh is to be equipped with three Rolls Royce Bergen KVGS-18G3 engines. The three engines will be supplied to Meghna Energy Ltd, a Rolls Royce Power Ventures subsidiary, which will be responsible for building, owning and operating the power station. The mill, owned by Scancem, will be dependent on the engines for power because it is not connected to the national grid.

In a separate contract, two KVGS-18G3 engines have been ordered by Global Heavy Chemicals Ltd, part of the Opsonin Group, for a factory in the Dhaka region of Bangladesh which produces caustic soda. Delivery is due in June 2001.

Norway

• Dresser Rand is to supply gas turbine power generation equipment to BP Norway. The contract was placed under an existing Rotating Equipment Initiative Frame Agreement between the two companies. The units will be installed at BP’s Valhall water injection platform in the Norwegian North Sea. The value of the order is over $20 million.

The equipment will comprise two DR-16G gas turbine power generation packages. Each is rated at 22MW. They will provide the main power source on the platform. Delivery is scheduled for the end of November 2001. Siemens will supply the generators and GE will supply the LM2500 gas turbines used on the packages. The platform itself is expected to enters service in September 2002 when it will inject water in order to increase the Valhall field’s recoverable reserves by an estimated 155 million barrels.

China

• The Liaoning Power Bureau has selected Westinghouse Process Control to replace the process control system at its Fuxin China plant under a contract worth around $1.2 million. The plant, located northeast of Beijing, is a 200 MW coal-fired station, constructed recently to replace several small demonstration units.

Fuxin will supply power tto he North-East Power Network in China. It will be fitted with an Ovation information and control system. The Electric Power Research Institute’s Northeast China group has been appointed by the Chinese power bureau to contribute software engineering expertise during the installation.

Germany

• German company TESSAG has won a contract worth Euro4.7 million to fit four high voltage switching stations owned by RWE Net with new management control technology. The four stations, at Kelsterbach (Frankfurt), Walsum, Munderlheim (both in Duisburg) and Bollenacker (Cologne), will be equipped with LISA management technology from Tessag subsidiary IDS. Work is due to begin in May, with completion scheduled for November 2002. Once the 144 high voltage fields have been converted, the switching stations will be controlled and monitored from RWE’s management control centres.