Wartsila will supply a 40 MW Smart Power Generation plant to Mendoza, Argentina, for Methax S.A., a special purpose company owned by Grupo Galileo. The value of the order is approximately EUR 25 million. The turn-key engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order includes Wartsila 34SG engines running on natural gas. The order was booked in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Argentina is suffering from energy shortages and the government is attracting private investments in order to increase capacity and efficiency. Wartsila has taken a strong position in enabling the transition towards an affordable and sustainable energy infrastructure in Argentina.
Methax was awarded the Mendoza power plant project, with a 10 year fixed fee and gas sale contract, in the tender issued by CAMMESA, the national grid system operator, on behalf of the Ministry of Energy in Argentina. The Ministry aims to further develop and strengthen the national grid in order to supply Argentina’s population and industry with reliable power. Wartsila was selected as the power plant supplier because of its efficiency, EPC capabilities and life cycle support.
Methax will generate electricity for 15 000 households with the Wartsila Smart Power Generation power plant. Other companies from Grupo Galileo will provide the natural gas for the plant by purchasing it from producers who are flaring the gas at present in the Malargüe region. The gas will be liquefied at the well-head by mobile Cryobox® LNG Production Stations and then transported by road via Virtual Pipeline® from Malargüe region to Anchoris, where it will regasified at site.
By liquefying right at the well-head, transporting and regasifying the LNG, Grupo Galileo is introducing its proprietary Gas 3.0® technologies in a massive scale, which will allow Argentina’s upstream producers to meet demand through an extensive system of natural gas distribution without the use of conventional pipelines.
“In addition to providing electricity to the households in Malargüe region, our LNG Virtual Pipeline between the well and the power plant makes this project economically sound and allows us to utilise our Gas 3.0 solutions in mobile LNG technology to address the impact of the flaring,” says Mr Osvaldo Del Campo, President and CEO at Grupo Galileo.
“This power plant will increase the electrification ratio in the region and will add reliability to the existing system. We are able to deliver the power plant quickly, which was very important for the customer, in addition to our superior efficiency, EPC capability and life cycle support that we provide,” says Luiz Felipe Carvalho, Business Development manager at Wartsila.
This is the seventh project awarded to Wartsila in Argentina during 2016. These projects have a significant impact on employment and industrial development in Argentina. Several hundred jobs are created and technology know-how is transferred to the growing power generation sector in Argentina.
