Wartsila to supply Umm Al-Qura Cement Co power plant, Saudi Arabia

Wartsila has received an order to supply a turnkey power plant from Saudi-based Umm Al-Qura Cement Co. The contract for the 47MW facility will be located in the mountain desert close to Taif city.

The equipment will be delivered by February 2015 on a fast-track basis and will enter commercial operation by October 2015.

The power plant will serve a cement factory in extreme conditions of temperatures up to 50°C and an altitude above 1000m. It consists of five 20-cylinder Wartsila 32TS engines, a new two-stage turbocharged version of the market-leading Wartsila 32 series. This new engine is designed to operate at outstanding efficiency even in extreme ambient conditions, such as high ambient temperatures and high altitudes. The new version delivers reduced fuel consumption while complying with the World Bank EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) guidelines for NOx emissions, Wartsila noted.

"This engine is tailor-made for hot conditions. That’s why we call it the ‘sauna’ engine. It is a result of our commitment to the extensive and long term development work of engine technology," said Lars-Ake Kjell, regional director at Wartsila Power Plants.

Wartsila has already supplied four out of five power installations in the cement industry in the country. With this project, Wartsila has more than 1600MW of installed power plant capacity in Saudi Arabia.