Iberdrola Combined Cycle Power Plant, Lithuania

Iberdrola Ingeniería has taken up the construction of a combined cycle type power plant for government-owned Lietuvos Elektrine in Lithuania. The plant will be situated in Elektranai, 40km away from Vilnius. The state-of-the-art facility is being developed to guarantee uniterrupted power supply to Lithuania after the closure of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant by the end of 2009.

The contract for the 440MW power plant was awarded to Iberdrola in 2009. The plant is being built on a turnkey basis for Lietuvos Elektrine, which is into generation, supply and distribution of electricity and thermal energy in Lithuania.

The power plant in Lithuania is the latest and a part of power plant upgrades taking place in the Baltic countries. Iberdrola has been active in carrying out a few of the upgrades.

Project finance

The €330m project is the biggest one that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is funding for a Spanish contractor. Iberdrola beat France’s Alstom, Germany’s Siemens and Canada’s SNC Lavalin to win the contract. The European Union has committed itself to fund 57% of the project. The plant will invest 33% while the remaining will be borne by the National Ignalia Decommissioning Fund.

Construction

Construction of the power plant started in April 2009 and it is expected to be operational by 2012. The plant is currently in the engineering design stage. Iberdrola is the EPC contractor for the plant and GE is the main equipment supplier.

Iberdrola has built a similar cycle type power plant in Latvia. It was inaugurated in May 2009. Located in Riga in Latvia, the plant has a capacity of 420MW. It is equipped with a district heating system that provides heating and hot water for a population of about 7,000 in the southern part of Riga.

Plant details

The plant will have one block encompassing a gas turbine with dry low Nitrogen Oxide (Nox) combustors.

The cycle technology of the power plant will be based on a single shaft arrangement. It will consist of 9FB gas turbine along with a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and D12 steam turbine. A static converter will form the start-up system for the gas turbine.

The 9FB gas turbine is the next level of improvement in GE's F series of turbines that use state-of-the-art technology to provide a high level of output and efficiency. The technology used in the FB series results in better fuel economy and also reduces the cost of producing electricity.

The HRSG installed in the plant would be triple pressure type and an unfired one. It will be equipped with a reheat section and one reheat condensing steam turbine. It will also be equipped with a static excitation system.

The plant will include a generator, a surface condenser as well as auxiliary equipment.

For both gas and steam turbines a two-pole 3,000rpm hydrogen and water cooled common generator will be provided. The excitation and protection system will be redundant systems. An automatic voltage regulation system will also be part of the plant.

Apart from the 440MW, the plant will also be capable of producing 75 t/h steam (13 bar, 300oC) for start-up needs of the existing units.

Cooling water necessary for the steam turbine condenser and other cooling loads will be drawn from a nearby lake. The power plant will also comply with the emissions requirements of both Lithuania and EU.

Plant history

The 1,800MW Elektranai Power Plant or Lithuanian Power Plant will replace Ignalia Power Plant as the prime supplier to the country, once the Ignalia plant is closed by the end of 2009. Built from 1960 to 72, Elektranai plant currently has eight units.

The plant is being given environmental upgrades to meet EU emission standards. Flue gas desulpharisation project was taken up in 2005.

Power market

The Iberdrola power plant is an important step in the upgradation of the country's power generation facilities. The majority of the country’s electricity needs are fulfilled by the 3,000MW Ignalina nuclear plant.

Similar to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Ignalina power plant lacks a sturdy containment building. Lithuania had to close unit 1 of the nuclear plant in 2004 to qualify for being part of the European Union. Unit 2 of the plant is set to close by 2009-end.

With the closure of the plant electricity prices in Lithuania are expected to increase by about 40%. In addition, 75% of the power sector would have to depend on natural gas supplied from Russia for meeting their energy needs. The plant closure has, therefore, necessitated the setting up of alternative power generation facilities.