GE Power selected for another major gas power plant contract in South Asia
GE announced that it has been selected by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group) to supply the power generation equipment for the upcoming 220 megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant in the Bhola district of Bangladesh. This will be GE’s second power plant in Bhola of the same capacity with the first being commissioned in 2015. The announcement continues GE’s regional leadership in delivering innovative technologies and state-of-the-art equipment to its power generation customers in South Asia, strengthening GE’s installed base in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
“The Bhola power project will be an important milestone for the Shapoorji Pallonji Group in Bangladesh, contributing towards increasing the country’s power generation capacity. GE’s technological prowess and on-the-ground local market expertise proved to be a huge advantage for our teams right through the process of configuration selection, to submission of cutting edge performance parameters and detailed proposal to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). Early engagement with the GE technical team helped incorporate design features to meet stringent project requirements. We would be happy to continue our collaboration with GE on other power projects globally as well.” said Mitesh Soni, Business Head – Power Business, Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
The Bhola project is being developed by the SP Group as an Independent Power Producer (IPP). The SP Group has signed a 22-year Power Purchase Agreement with BPDB. The power plant will operate on duel-fuel technology using natural gas as the primary fuel and diesel as the back-up fuel and is expected to achieve commercial operations by December 2019. The project will result in supplying the equivalent power needed to provide electricity to 200,000 homes in Bangladesh.
“Countries in South Asia are accelerating towards achieving energy security which has led to greater investment in the sector. GE’s technology advantage and local presence in South Asia gives us an edge in addressing the needs of our customers in the region,” said Deepesh Nanda, CEO of GE’s Gas Power Systems in South Asia.
“Bangladesh specifically provides an enabling policy framework to accelerate power generation capacity addition and the Bhola project is a testament of the government’s desire to achieve its ‘Power of All” objective by 2020. Likewise, Sri Lanka has embarked on augmenting its power generation capacity and GE will be at the forefront of delivering cleaner, more reliable and affordable electricity for the people of Sri Lanka.” he added.
GE Power will supply the full suite of engineered equipment package (EEP) for the project, including two 6F.03 gas turbines, two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), one steam turbine generator, condenser and associated control systems. GE will also provide technical expertise during the installation phase of the project. Once completed, Bhola power plant will be the fleet leader for GE’s heavy duty 6F.03 gas turbine with advance gas path, delivering higher levels of efficiency, flexibility and reliability typically only seen in large capacity power plants.
Today, GE offers full scope of power generation technology and services in various regions globally. Currently, GE has an installed base of more than 35 gas turbines in Bangladesh, generating more than 2.2 gigawatts (GW) of power.
Image: Joe Mastrangelo, Scott Strazik, Mitesh Soni, and Deepesh Nanda at the agreement signing ceremony at GE’s Crotonville Campus in New York, USA. (Source: GE)