French engineering major Alstom has been awarded a turnkey contract, worth approximately E335 million, by Societe Tunisienne de l'Electricite et du Gaz for the construction of a 400MW combined-cycle power plant at Ghannouch, in the Gabes region of southern Tunisia. An additional contract includes a 12-year operation support and maintenance agreement.
Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will supply a fully integrated turnkey combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, composed of one KA26 combined-cycle unit, integrating in-house core plant components, a GT26 gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, a steam turbine, a Topgas turbogenerator and the ALSPA distributed control system.
The Ghannouch plant will be the third facility constructed by Alstom for Societe Tunisienne de l’Electricite et du Gaz (STEG) in Tunisia, after the combined-cycle power plants of Sousse and Rades, which went online in 1994 and 2001 respectively.
The new facility will be constructed on the site of the old thermal power plant of Ghannouch, allowing the use of existing commodities such as the sea water intake and discharge structures. It is expected to meet a major part of the electricity demand in the southern part of the country and maintain the equilibrium of the electric power production between the regions.
Philippe Joubert, Alstom’s executive vice president for power systems, said: This agreement attests to Alstom’s close and longstanding collaboration with STEG. We are honored that STEG has chosen Alstom to provide this power plant for Tunisia, enabling Alstom, through its expertise in turnkey projects and environmentally-friendly technology, to secure power supply to the region and support the country’s rapidly developing electricity market.