Wärtsilä Supplying Engines For 58 MW Plant

Wärtsilä and Australia-based Clough Ltd., a provider of engineering, construction, commissioning and asset support services, will provide a 58 MW power plant to Papua New Guinea.

The plant is part of an infrastructure building program being developed by NIUPOWER, a venture between Kumul Petroleum Holdings Ltd. and Oil Search Power Holdings Ltd. The plant will be near Port Moresby, the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea, and will operate on six Wärtsilä 34SG engines running on natural gas. This will be the first utility scale gas engine project in Papua New Guinea, the companies said. The efficiency of the 34SG engines will also provide a reliable source of baseload power for the local grid, the companies said.

The 34SG engine comes in 9, 16 and 20 L variants and has a bore and stroke of 340 X 400 mm.

“This project typifies the needs of today’s electricity generating market with high efficiency, low lifecycle costs, and environmental sustainability being the key requirements. We are proud that Wärtsilä has been chosen to meet these needs,” said Sushil Purohit, vice president, Middle East, Asia & Australia, Wärtsilä Energy Solutions.

Under the terms of the turnkey contract, Wärtsilä will provide the gas engines, generators and related auxiliaries, while Clough will be responsible for the remaining plant equipment, the installation, and the plant construction. The project is expected to be completed in late 2018.