The AES Jordan venture of US firm AES Corporation and Japan’s Mitsui has awarded Finland’s Wärtsilä a €184mn contract to build a 240mw capacity tri-fuel power plant near ‘Amman. Wärtsilä said on 2 January that the plant will be built alongside an existing AES Jordan plant – the 380mw combined cycle gas turbine plant at the ‘Amman East Power site – to supply electricity to Jordan’s national grid (MEES, 28 September 2012). The plant will incorporate 16 Wärtsilä engines and will be capable of burning heavy fuel oil (HFO), distillates or natural gas as fuel. It is scheduled to be operational by July 2014.
Jordan’s gas supply from Egypt has been erratic since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime in early 2011, forcing it to keep its options open as it pushes to expand generating capacity. Wärtsilä said that “it is initially expected that the plant will operate using HFO,” but will transfer to gas “once the infrastructure for a natural gas supply is in place.” Jordan Times on 4 January quoted Jordanian energy officials as saying that gas supplies from Egypt had returned to “normal levels” after two years of disrupted supply. The report said Egyptian gas flow to Jordan reached its full level of 240mn cfd in early January, having averaged 40mn cfd for most of 2012. (CONTINUED - 285 WORDS)
