Poweo Signs Siemens for French CCGT Plant Construction

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--French power company Poweo SA (EPA:ALPWO) (Paris) has chosen German engineering company Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) to build its second combined-cycle gas-turbine (CCGT) plant at Toul in northeastern France.

The project, which will cost an estimated 500 million euros ($650 million), entails construction of a 413-megawatt (MW) CCGT plant in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region of France. This is the second collaboration between Siemens and Poweo Production, a joint venture that is owned by Poweo, Verbund (WBAG:VER) (Vienna, Austria), investment fund Ecofin, and Chairman of Poweo Production Charles Beigbeder. The project financing will be in place by the autumn, and construction will begin shortly after that. Construction time is estimated at 30 months, and Poweo expects the plant to be fully operational by 2013.

The plant will be located on a brownfield site and also will involve the deployment of a 28-kilometre underground pipeline connection to the national gas system and a 225-kilovolt electricity connection to an adjoining substation. French gas grid operator GRTgaz is currently building a pipeline to the plant. Last month, Poweo signed a 20-year agreement for the supply of natural gas to a new plant with Statoil ASA (NYSE:STO) (Stavanger, Norway). Deliveries to the plant are expected to begin as early as October 2012.

The European Investment Bank has agreed to invest 190 million euros in the Toul project, claiming that it is has a lower environmental impact than other conventional thermal power stations and, because Poweo is a new player in the French market, the project will promote competition.

In April last year, Poweo fired up its first power plant at Pont-sur-Sambre in northern France. The 412-MW CCGT plant built by Siemens became the first fully gas-powered combined-cycle plant in France to be owned and operated by a company other than the French national utility Electricite de France SA (EPA:EDF) (Paris). The Pont-sur-Sambre plant is equipped with a single-shaft SGTS-4000 F gas turbine and an SSTS-3000 steam turbine, coupled with one heat-recovery steam generator. For additional information, see April 20, 2009, article - First French Poweo Production Power Plant Fires Up.

"After a first fruitful cooperation between Siemens and Poweo for the combined-cycle gas-fired plant at Pont-sur-Sambre, in operation since September 2009, the two groups have signed an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract for the turnkey construction of a second CCGT plant of 413 MW in Toul, Meurthe-et-Moselle," Poweo said in a statement.

The news of another new plant coming online will be good news for France, which will be facing an energy crisis as early as 2013, according to the latest figures from power grid operator Reseau de Transport d'Electricite (Paris). The operator says that the new 1,600-MW Flamanville nuclear reactor will barely compensate for the closure of older fossil-fuelled plants. France derives almost three quarters of its power from nuclear plants but has been importing an increasing amount of power since 2001 to deal with peak demand. The country is expected to close 3,600 MW of coal-fired power plants between 2013 and 2015, along with older heating oil- powered generators. There are plans to add 4,800 MW of gas-fired plants during the same period.

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