Finnish Energy Company Wärtsilä to Build 22 MW Power Plant in Dakhla

The Finnish company Wärtsilä, specializing in the industrial manufacture of electric generators, will provide the Dakhla region’s state utility with a 22 MW baseload power plant under an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract.

Wärtsilä announced in a press release published on its website last week that the EPC contract was concluded with the National Office of Water and Electricity (ONEE) in Dakhla.

“The main evaluation criterion for the project was the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) during an operating period of 20 years. LCOE measures the operating period costs divided by the energy produced,” explained the company.

The power plant will thus be made up of two Wärtsilä 46 engines, operating in heavy fuel oil with the capacity to use light fuel oil as a support. The engines will be delivered in early 2018 and the plant is expected to be fully operational by January 2019.

“The growth in energy demand in Morocco is a result of improvements in the population’s access to a basic infrastructure – including electricity,” stated the company, adding that “with this new power plant, Wärtsilä will now have an installed base of 189 MW in Morocco, the total installed base in Africa being 6 GW.”

The base installed by Wärtsilä in Morocco will now include an installed capacity of 112 MW at the Tan Tan plant and 76 MW at the Dakhla Diesel plant.

The ONEE site in Dakhla is currently made up of 3 Wärtsilä power stations, the first plant implemented in June 2002 consisted of 3 Diesel groups of 7 MW each, 21 MW in total, followed by the first extension delivered in December 2010 comprising a group of 16.5 MW, and a second extension of a group of 16.45 MW received in June 2015.

The construction of the new plant will increase production capacity from 54 MW to 76 MW.

Source: BNA