Chile’s Mejillones Unit 3 Forced to Shut Down After Minor Explosion

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Early in the morning of August 26, 2007, a minor explosion occurred at Chile’s Meijillones Thermal Plant, which is owned and operated by Empresa Electrica del Norte Grande, Edelnor (Santiago de Chile, Chile).

The incident occurred at the 250-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle unit, equipped with a 154 MW Siemens V94.2 Gas turbine and a 96 MW Ansaldo Steam Turbine, which were put offline immediately. The unit’s combustion chamber was damaged and consequently it will remain shut down for a couple of weeks. According to plant officials, no restart date has been scheduled. Mejillones Thermal Plant is located in Antofagasta, in Chile’s II Region, and began commercial operations in the 1970s.

Subsequently, on August 27, 2007, a fire incident occurred at another Chilean Thermal Plant, Electroandina’s Tocopilla Plant. In contrast to Mejillones, Tocopilla’s Units have been working normally since the incident occurred at Units 14 and 15’s load conveyor belt. The 1 GW Tocopilla Plant is owned and operated by Electroandina and is also located in Chile’s II Region.

According to local press, the causes of both incidents are under analysis. Lately, Edelnor's Mejillones plant had been burning diesel instead of natural gas because of natural gas cuts from Argentina. Consequently, the diesel conversion could have caused the fire, according to local press.

The two power plants are connected to Chile's northern grid (SING) and they supply important mining companies with electricity, which had to reduce their power consumption due to the incidents.

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