Polish refinery firm PKN Orlen has awarded a contract for the construction of a new combined cycle heat and power plant to a consortium that includes SNC Lavalin and GE.
The 463 MW plant will be built in Wloclawek, Poland and will be designed to meet stringent environmental standards. The turnkey contract is valued at $437 million and is the cornerstone of PKN Orlen’s strategy to enter the power market.
According to PKN Orlen, the plant will generate heat and electricity for the company’s own operations as well as other industrial users. Approximately half of its output will be sold on the market.
Under the contract, SNC Lavalin will provide all of the equipment for the plant, except for the heart recovery boiler, gas turbine, steam turbine and generator. The Canada-based company will also provide project management, engineering, procurement, construction, start up and commissioning services.
GE has also signed a 12-year maintenance contract with PKN Orlen covering the gas turbine, steam turbine and generator.
“[The] signing of the contracts gives a go-ahead to growth-oriented investment plans in the power segment, which are part of PKN Orlen’s new strategy for 2013–2017,” said Jacek Krawiec, President of the PKN Orlen Management Board. “It envisages an over fourfold increase in generation capacity in the next five years, which will be based on gas-fired technologies and electricity/heat cogeneration.”
