GE Energy Financial Services, the energy investing division of General Electric, has supported the raise of export credit agency (ECA) financing for Aluminium Bahrain’s (Alba) 1,792MW combined-cycle power plant in Bahrain.
Swiss ECA SERV is backing the project with $310.4m and €310.3m loans for goods and services respectively. Reinsurance for the facility is being provided by French ECA Bpifrance and Italian ECA SACE.
SERV CEO Peter Gisler said: “SERV is delighted to be contributing to this project. As an enterprise operating at a global scale, GE is also a major Swiss exporter. It contributes to continuing Switzerland’s long-standing tradition in engineering and the worldwide delivery of top quality gas turbines.”
GE Energy Financial Services Global Capital Advisory managing director Bob Psaradellis said: “GE has the unique ability address customer needs by combining its comprehensive turnkey commercial and technical offers with efficient financial solutions.”
A GE Power and GAMA Power Systems consortium was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the commissioning of the power plant in 2016.
The contract is part of Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project, which is expected to make the company the largest single-site smelter in the world.
GE Power will deploy three 9HA gas turbines, three steam turbines and three heat recovery steam generators for the power plant.
Alba and GE also have a 16-year long-term service and maintenance agreement for the gas-fired power plant.
A group of international banks, including Standard Chartered, Citi, Credit Agricole, Commerzbank and JP Morgan are funding the facility. The funds will be used to partially finance the delivery of power to Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project.
Slated to be commissioned in early 2019, the Line 6 Expansion Project is expected to boost Alba’s annual production capacity by 540,000 metric tons.