Mitsubishi Power, the power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has announced the start of operations at the Rades C combined cycle power plant in Tunisia, owned by the Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (STEG).
The company said in a statement the high efficiency 450MW plant was developed by a consortium led by Mitsubishi Power and including Sumitomo Corporation. The project aims to expand the power generating capacity in Tunisia and to achieve a more stable supply of electricity, so as to help accelerate the sustainable economic development of the North African country.
The state-of-the-art Rades C power plant has been designed to meet Tunisia’s environmental goals and contribute significantly to a reduction of the CO2 gases emitted, with hydrogen ready gas turbine technology that can be easily converted to H2 firing with minimal modifications, the statement highlighted.
For this project, Mitsubishi Power provided a high-efficiency M701F gas turbine, a steam turbine, a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), as well as a team of onsite technical advisors and supervisors to support the construction and commissioning periods. Consortium partner Sumitomo Corporation provided the balance of plant equipment and undertook the civil and installation works.
In addition to the equipment supply, Mitsubishi Power will support STEG with the maintenance of the power plant under a long-term service agreement (LTSA) with TOMONI HUB which supports continuous 24-hours monitoring, 365-days a year.
The project was financed by the Japanese Official Development Assistant (ODA) organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the Japanese government’s
“Partnership for Quality Infrastructure” initiative.
The Rades C power project has utilized local content, materials and resources and equipment, resulting in the creation of around 70 permanent jobs and approximately 2,000 additional jobs during project development and construction, the company said.
Mitsubishi Power has a 40-year history in Tunisia, beginning with the delivery of gas and oil-fired boilers and steam turbines for Rades A, a 340MW Rades A power plant located in the same power station as Rades C. The Rades A power plant has been successfully operational since 1985, according to the statement.
