Wartsila Signs Long-Term Service Agreements for World's Largest Tri-Fuel Power Plant

Wärtsilä, a leading global supplier of flexible and efficient power plant solutions and services, has signed two important long-term service agreements covering Amman Asia Electric Power’s power plant in Al Manakher, Jordan. The agreements comprise a 15 year Parts Supply Agreement, as well as a 5 year Technical Service Agreement with KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering Co., Ltd, the operations and maintenance contractor for the power plant. The contract was signed in October 2012.

The facility is under construction and will have a net electrical output of 573 MW. When completed, it will be the world’s largest tri-fuel power plant with combustion engines capable of using natural gas, heavy fuel oil and light fuel oil. A consortium headed by Wärtsilä was awarded the turnkey contract in October 2012 to build the power plant, which will supply electricity to the Jordanian national grid.

The plant is to be powered by a total of 38 Wärtsilä 50DF multi-fuel engines running initially on heavy fuel oil. However, once the natural gas infrastructure is in place, the flexibility of the Wärtsilä engine technology will enable a seamless switch to gas fuel. The first phase of the power plant project is expected to be operational by February 2014. The entire plant is scheduled to be in operation by September of that same year.

“With its broad experience in this field, together with the fact that Wärtsilä is the original equipment supplier for this installation, it was an obvious choice to select the company’s parts and service support to ensure the reliability and availability of the equipment,” comments Mr. Choi Jung-ho, Vice President, KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering Co., Ltd.

“Wärtsilä provides customers with service solutions that optimise the operational efficiency of their installations throughout the full lifecycle. This of course has many benefits, but being aware that Wärtsilä can be relied on to rapidly respond to technical service and spare part needs, is perhaps the most important benefit of all,” says Loganathan Venkatachalapathi, Area General Manager, Contract Support, Wärtsilä Arab Emirates.

Globally, approximately 17 GW of generating capacity in both marine and land based installations – a total of 544 installations – is covered by Wärtsilä’s asset management and other service agreements.

Wärtsilä’s Services & Support solutions range from basic support, installation and commissioning, performance optimisation, upgrades, conversions and environmental solutions, to service projects and agreements focusing on overall equipment performance and asset management. These services are delivered by some 11,000 professionals working from the company’s 160 service stations, workshops and repair centres that form a service network covering 70 countries worldwide.