Wärtsilä has been awarded the contract to supply a 384 MW gas fired power plant to Azerbaijan. In terms of output, this is the largest single power plant order that Wärtsilä has received to date. When completed, the Boyuk Shor plant, located close to the capital Baku, will be operated by Azerenerji JSC, the state-owned utility.
Wärtsilä’s scope of supply will be 21 Wärtsilä 50SG engines running on natural gas, related auxiliaries and process equipment. The plant is scheduled to be operational in autumn 2013, and will supply electricity to the Baku regional grid.
One of Wärtsilä’s key strategic targets is to achieve growth in the global gas power plant market, and this latest order strengthens its position in this field. The order is also a testimony to the success of the Wärtsilä 50SG engine, the world’s largest gas-powered generating set. An important feature of this engine, a four-stroke, spark-ignited gas engine operating on the Otto cycle and incorporating the lean-burn principle, is its high power plant net electrical efficiency rating, more than 50 per cent in combined-cycle mode.
Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea region is an important and growing energy market. Wärtsilä has been present in Azerbaijan since the middle of 1990’s. Wärtsilä has already supplied seven power plants in Azerbaijan, producing a total of over 860 MW of power generating capacity.
