Emelda Prepares for Startup of 72-Megawatt Diego de Almagro Fuel Oil-Fired Generating Station in Chile

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Empresa Electrica Diego de Almagro (Emelda) is currently carrying out the commissioning of the 72-megawatt (MW) Emelda diesel-fired power station in Diego de Almagro, Chañaral province, Community of Atacama in Chile's Region III.

The plant, with a power output of 72 MW coming from two 36-MW gas turbines, is expected to start running on residual fuel oil #6 and will begin burning intermediate fuel oil (IFO 180) in 2011. The facility is equipped with two gas turbines that were brought from China and installed at the plant for peak-load power generation. The first turbine is a Nanjing model PG6531B, manufactured in China under license from General Electric (NYSE:GE) (GE). The second unit is a generating block manufactured by GE in the U.S.

Construction on the plant and rehabilitation of the turbines began in late 2008. The plant is expected to start generating electricity for Chile's central interconnected system in May 2010, once the lubrication and spinning systems are checked, project officials told Industrial Info.

The project, with a total investment cost of $35 million, is expected to provide support to the demand of electric power and respond efficiently to the requirements of the system in the short and long terms.

Elmeda is an initiative developed by B.Bosch (Santiago, Chile), which has been focusing on the construction and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks.

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