Argentinian rental power supplier Secco has contracted Wärtsilä to deliver three power plants to Santa Fe province. Additionally, the Finnish OEM will carry out two further projects for Argentinian independent power producers (IPPs) – combined output of all five plants will be 382 MW.
The Secco project stem from a tender issued by CAMMESA, the national grid system operator, on behalf of the Argentinian energy ministry. The aim is to improve the reliability of power supply to the national grid. Natural gas, the primary fuel for power plants, is not available in Argentina for several months during the year – hence dual-fuel engine are a suitable solution.
Wärtsilä said its dual-fuel engines were “particularly competitive” due to their ability to “employ heavy fuel oil as a backup at a much lower cost than light fuel oil.”
PPA in place for plant’s total power output
The three Secco power projects, with a total output of 192 MW, are located in Santa Fe province in central Argentina. All electricity to be produced by the plants will be feed into the national grid under a PPA between Secco and the government of Argentina.
Two of the project will be run by thirteen 34DF dual-fuel engines while the third will be powered by four Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines. They will primarily run on natural gas, with heavy fuel oil will as a back-up fuel.
The equipment is scheduled to be delivered in early next year with a view to getting the plants fully operational during the second half of 2017.
"We need dual-fuel technology to cope with the varying supply of natural gas here in Argentina. Wärtsilä's technology and the technical support they have provided were the key reasons why we chose to work with Wärtsilä," commented Osvaldo C. Calvo, international business manager at Industrias J.F.Secco.
The Secco order, worth €78 million, is included Wärtsilä's Q2 order book while the orders from the two IPPs, worth around €72 million, from part of the order book in Q3-2016. Once operational, the Secco plants totalling 382 MW in output will increase five-fold Wärtsilä's installed capacity in Argentina.