Poland’s PKE Moves with Foster Wheeler on World’s Largest Supercritical CFB Boiler Island

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ:FWLT) (Clinton, New Jersey) has finally received full notice to proceed on a state-of-the-art circulating fluidized-bed boiler island in Poland that was originally scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of this year. The groundbreaking project is scheduled to start-up at the beginning of 2009. The go ahead for the project was given by Poludniowy Koncern Energetczny (PKE) for the design, supply and erection of the circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) boiler island for the new 460-megawatt plant at Lagisza in southern Poland.

Foster Wheeler’s share in the $550 million to be invested in the power plant is $200 million. The contract will be executed by the company’s Polish and Finnish subsidiaries that have already undertaken engineering and procurement services and placed the orders for pressure part materials prior to the Notice to Proceed (NTP).

The new unit will be constructed adjacent to PKE’s existing 840 MW power station at Lagisza in Upper Silesia and forms part of an ongoing program by PKE to replace outdated capacity with a modern, high efficiency, environmentally friendly plant. The company operates another seven power stations in southern and western Poland and is the country’s largest electric power utility with over 5,000 megawatts of installed power.

The Foster Wheeler boiler island project will achieve two world firsts: It will be the world’s largest CFB boiler and the world’s first supercritical CFB unit. "The project marks a crucial step forward in bringing our CFB boiler technology to utility scale. By integrating the supercritical steam cycle and once-through technology into our world leading CFB technology, we will be providing PKE a cutting-edge engineering solution for the clean and efficient combustion of solid fuel, " said Bernard H Cherry, CEO of Foster Wheeler’s Global Power Group.

The plant will have fuel-efficient usage and low emissions, thereby meeting the EU’s Large Combustion Plant directive. Total plant efficiency will be in excess of 43%.

The new plant will bring the total of CFB-based generating capacity contracted by Foster Wheeler in Poland since 1995 to almost 2,500 megawatts. PKE already has two 70 MW boiler plants at Jaworzno and a 120 MW boiler plant at Katowice, Foster Wheeler’s largest project in Poland is the 1,500 MW plant at Turow. A CHP (combined heat and power) plant at Elcho supplies 224 megawatts of power and 500 megawatts of district heat.

The Lagisza project is the largest energy sector investment to be financed without being guaranteed by long-term contracts. PKE is using its own capital, state funds and money from a number of Polish environmental protection funds. PKE has negotiated with the national power grid operator PSE for access to the high-voltage transmission system. This will allow PKE to export the power generated from the new Lagisza power block.

State owned PKE is the country’s largest utility generating almost 20% of the power and over 16% of the heat produced in the country. Poland’s generating capacity is approaching 30 Gigawatts.

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