Two new 18.5-megawatt MAN 48/60 engines have been commissioned at the Grand Cayman power plant, joining join five existing MAN engines onsite. The retrofit increases the plant’s overall capacity to 90 MW and was carried out in partnership with the Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).
CUC, the sole provider of electricity to the more than 50,000 residents of Grand Cayman, draws on its 171 MW generating capacity installed across the island. The expansion of the Grand Cayman power plant helps to meet rising demand.
Walter Offner, head of project execution at MAN Diesel & Turbo pointed out the company’s longstanding relationship with CUC and BWSC, supplying engines through multiples phases of expansion.
The latest project is s the sixth power plant built at CUC with MAN Diesel & Turbo engines, according to CUC’s vice president of operations & engineering, David Watler. He lauded MAN’s “performance and completion” of the new plant phase, stressing “all of their projects have been on time and on budget with excellent quality at competitive prices.”
Notwithstanding its market dominant position on Cayman Island, CUC aims to utilize the latest generation technology, as it seeks to “provide customers with competitive electricity rates amongst our peer utilities within the Caribbean.”
The Grand Cayman power plant marks another reference for MAN’s 48/60 engine in the Caribbean, an economical engine that can be found in medium and large engine-based plants around the world.
MAN and BWSC have been strategic partners of CUC since 1998, and have designed and installed several diesel generating units on a turnkey basis. They worked together on other projects in the Bahamas, Barbados, and Curacao.