Wärtsilä wins power plant orders from Greece and Cyprus - strengthens its leading position in the Mediterranean

Wärtsilä, a leading supplier of flexible power plants and services to the decentralised power generation market, has further strengthened its leading role in supplying electricity to the Eastern Mediterranean islands with the award of two new orders. One order has been received to supply power generation equipment to the island of Lesvos belonging to Greece, and the other to Cyprus.

The combined value of these orders is approximately EUR 40 million. These orders were taken into the order book during the first half of this year.

The contracts represent a total output of 72 MWe. The two new orders bring Wärtsilä’s power generating capacity in the region, either installed or on order, to more than 600 MW.

Local electricity demand surges dramatically during the tourist season when the resident population of some 120,000 people is outnumbered many times over by tourists. Wärtsilä’s decentralised power plants offer a flexible and highly efficient means of meeting these increases in demand, whilst at the same time creating low environmental impact.

The strict environmental protection norms of the EU require that the power plants are equipped with the best available harmful emission reduction technologies, and that they use very low sulphur content fuel oils. The Wärtsilä engines are equipped with the latest low emission technical solutions. Furthermore, since the Cyprus plant is located near the town of Larnaca, it is also equipped with a separate nitrogen oxides reduction system to remove most of the flue gas nitrogen oxides.

“There is a strong need to meet this seasonal demand for energy since it has such an impact on the local economy. The key requirements are for heavy duty units that can run on heavy fuel oil at full power during the five summer months while, at the same time, having the lowest emissions. Wärtsilä has shown repeatedly that we can meet these criteria, which is why we have such a strong market position here. Furthermore, Wärtsilä is the only company offering 24/7 service in the islands,” says Harry Lindroos, Regional Director, Eastern Europe, Wärtsilä Power Plants.


The two orders

The state-owned Public Power Corporation has awarded turnkey contract for Wärtsilä to supply additional generating capacity to its power plants on the Greek island of Lesvos. The contract represents an extension to an existing power plant, with the extra 22 MW capacity needed to meet the huge increase in demand that occurs during the tourist season.

The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC), a public utility, has ordered a power plant with three Wärtsilä 18V46 engines, which will deliver over 50 MWe of energy. The new plant is located in Dhekelia, near the town of Larnaca in Cyprus. The new plant is a turnkey delivery by the Danish contractor BWSC, and is scheduled for full operation in summer 2010.

Wärtsilä has supplied power plants to the Eastern Mediterranean islands continuously since 1986.

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