Wärtsilä wins EUR 57 million contract to supply floating power barge to Papua New Guinea

Wärtsilä, a leading supplier of flexible power plants for the decentralized power generation market, has been contracted to supply a barge-mounted power plant to serve a mining operation in Papua New Guinea. The contract, signed in August, is valued at approximately EUR 57 million. The customer is Lihir Gold Limited, a leading global gold company, and the power plant will provide electricity to its Lihir Island gold mine. The power plant is scheduled to be fully operational by April 2011.

The barge-mounted plant will be based on Wärtsilä 20V32 engines operating on heavy fuel oil. Since the plant is planned as being an interim solution to the company’s power needs for the site, it was decided to mount the power plant on a barge so that it can be later moved to another location when no longer needed at Lihir Island.

A barge-mounted power plant solution has the excellent advantage of location flexibility, and is, therefore, an ideal solution for producing power on an interim basis. Wärtsilä has earlier supplied some 20 power barges to the Philippines, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Bangladesh.

Extra electrical power was needed at the mine since Lihir Gold Limited is in the process of extending the facilities. The company required a flexible power solution for interim use, and emphasised the importance of having a firm and specified delivery time.

“Wärtsilä has been able to assure this valued customer that we can meet the delivery requirements, and we have worked closely with them throughout the process in evaluating different solutions, scope levels and clarifications. Our past experience in providing barge-mounted power plant solutions, together with our support capabilities in the region, were both important factors in Wärtsilä winning this valuable contract”, says Alf Doktar, Regional Director, Asia and Australia, Wärtsilä Power Plants.

Wärtsilä has earlier supplied more than 200 MW of power generating equipment for a number of projects in Papua New Guinea, including twelve Wärtsilä 32 type engines to Lihir Gold Limited.

Wärtsilä in brief
Wärtsilä is a global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising technological innovation and total efficiency, Wärtsilä maximises the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers.
In 2008, Wärtsilä’s net sales totalled EUR 4.6 billion with 19,000 employees. The company has operations in 160 locations in 70 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Finland.

www.wartsila.com