Wärtsilä to supply 12 of its 50DF dual-fuel engines for the baseload power plant in the country

Wartsila

Image: Officials of Wärtsilä and CGGC-UN Power at the signing ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of EDC.

Finnish equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä has secured a supply order in Cambodia to supply 200MW baseload power plant, to address the country’s rapidly growing energy demand.

Due to its urgent requirement, Wärtsilä will deliver the plant on fast track basis. The order was placed by CGGC-UN Power, a Chinese engineering, procurement and construction contractor, this June.

The plant will be located in Kandal province near Capital city of Phnom Penh and will be built on behalf of Electricite du Cambodge (EDC), Cambodia’s state-owned utility. The power plant could be operational next year.

CGGC-UN Power president Liu Fei said: “This is our first thermal power plant installation in Cambodia, and we greatly appreciate the support from Wärtsilä in delivering their generating equipment with such a short lead time. This will allow the project to be completed by next year, so that the needed electricity supply can come on-line as planned.”

Wärtsilä’s engines will have dual-fuel capability

Under the contract, the company will supply 12 of its 50DF dual-fuel engines will provide the fast-starting, balancing flexibility to improve grid stability and reliability. The engines also help in increased integration of renewable energy, in particular solar power, into the system.

The dual-fuel capability of the engines will allow them into initially operate on heavy fuel oil (HFO), but will switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel when the local LNG infrastructure is available.

EDC managing director Keo Rottanak said: “The country’s rapid economic growth, and tariff reduction policy has increased the demand for electricity, which when combined with the shortage of water for hydro power generation, has led to the supply being unable to cope.

“The new power plant is, therefore, urgently needed and Wärtsilä’s ability to meet this need is critical to the success of this project.”

Last month, Wärtsilä had signed two major maintenance management and operational advisory agreements with Summit Group in Bangladesh. The seven year agreements cover two power plants in Gazipur, Dhaka, owned by Summit Gazipur II Power and Ace Alliance Power (Gazipur I), with a combined output of 464MW.

Wärtsilä Energy Business, Cambodia business development manager Thanh Pham said: “Fuel and operational flexibility are key factors in delivering the right solution for this project. The ability to seamlessly switch to LNG fuel when it becomes available is made possible by the Wärtsilä 50DF engines.

“They also have the flexibility to operate at lower load during the rainy season, and the flexibility to integrate renewables into the system in the future, although the immediate use will be to provide the required baseload power.”