The Myingyan power plant will be built in Taungtha, a township in the Myingyan district of Mandalay division, Myanmar. Credit: TUBS.
The Myingyan CCGT power plant will be installed with two GE 6F.03 gas turbines. Credit: Ministry of Information of Myanmar.
Electricity generated by the Myingyan power plant will be supplied to Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE). Credit: Ministry of Electricity and Energy.

The Myingyan combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant is currently under development in Taungtha, a township in the Myingyan district of Mandalay, Myanmar. Upon commissioning, the 225MW project will be one of the biggest gas-fired power plants in the country.

The power plant will be built on a greenfield site spread across 29.8 acres of land in the Myingyan district of the Mandalay division in central Myanmar. It will be operated by Sembcorp Myingyan Power Company, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries, for 22 years, following which the Myanmar Government will take ownership.

Sembcorp and its partner MMID Utilities will respectively hold 80% and 20% stakes in the project.

Myingyan CCGT power plant make-up

The plant will be installed with two GE high-efficiency 6F.03 gas turbines, a reheat steam turbine, and two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs). Based on the proven 6F.03 gas turbine technology, the turbines will offer optimum efficiency, flexibility and dependability.

The high exhaust energy of the gas turbine makes it suitable for midsize combined-cycle power plants. It offers a net efficiency of more than 54% when integrated with GE reheat steam turbine technology.

The DLN 2.6 combustion system of the 6F.03 gas turbine ensures lower emissions and 32,000-hour combustion inspection intervals. The multi-nozzle quiet combustor (MNQC) holds synthesis gas from 20% to 90% hydrogen. It applies steam or nitrogen injection to return less than 25ppm nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

“Upon commissioning, the 225MW project will be one of the biggest gas-fired power plants in the country.”

The entire power plant, including the turbine, HRSGs, associated equipment and auxiliary systems, will be controlled by ABB Symphony Plus total plant automation system, which will integrate the latest generation of SD Series flexible control and I/O modules. It will utilise the data generated from the plant and perform intelligent data analysis to monitor performance.

The project will also involve the construction of an administration and control building, cooling tower, raw water pond and ancillary buildings.

Power off-take from Myingyan CCGT power plant

The CCGT plant will supply electricity to Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE), previously known as Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE), to meet the nation’s growing demand for electricity, while addressing the current power shortages in Myanmar.

Sembcorp Industries signed a 22-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with MEPE (now EPGE) for the supply of 225MW of electricity generated by the plant in March 2016.

Financing for Myingyan power plant

The total project cost of the Myingyan power plant is approximately $300m, which will be funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as well as international commercial lenders such as Clifford Capital, DBS Bank, DZ Bank and Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation.

The debt and equity political risk coverage is provided by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and ADB.

The AIIB approved a $20m loan for the project in September 2016.

Contractors involved

Sembcorp Myingyan Power Company was selected as the independent power producer (IPP) through an international competitive bidding conducted by MEPE to develop the project. The company signed a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (MOEE) in January 2017.

A joint venture of SDCI (Myanmar) Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Design and Construction (SDC), and Jurong Engineering (Myanmar) is executing the project.

GE was awarded a contract by Sembcorp Utilities for two 6F.03 gas turbines, associated steam turbines and HRSGs for the 225MW power project in July 2016.

ABB received an order from Jurong Engineering (JEL) to supply the Symphony Plus plant automation system for the power plant in December 2016.

Allen & Overy was contracted to provide commercial, technical and legal advisory services across all stages of the project.