Siemens, a global technology powerhouse, has won a major order to deliver an industrial steam turbine package for expansion of the Az Zour South 3 open-cycle gas turbine power plant to a combined cycle power plant.

The plant, located in Kuwait, is being operated by the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW).

The order was placed by Chinese EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor SepcoIII to help boost the total installed capacity of the plant by 263 megawatts (MW) without using any additional gas. The combined cycle power plant is expected to go into operation in mid-2019.

According to Siemens, Az Zour South III began operating as an open-cycle power plant with two SGT4-5000F gas turbines in 2015.

The German technology giant is now supplying an SST-800 steam turbine (high pressure) combined with an SST-500 steam turbine (low pressure) and an SGen1200A generator for this stage.

“With our industrial steam turbine, we have developed a cost-effective and highly efficient solution for expanding the power plant,” remarked Jeffrey Dunlap, the head of sales for the Middle East and North Africa region at Siemens Power and Gas.

"With more than 263 MW, the additional capacity is outstanding for a non-reheat process. The project highlights the flexibility and individuality of these steam turbine expansions. With our wide range of industrial and utility steam turbine portfolio, we will always find the right match to meet the individual steam tailing project targets," stated Dunlap.

After the steam turbine expansion, the hot waste gases of the gas turbines will be used to produce steam which will feed the turbo set. This will increase the plant’s total capacity by 263 MW without any additional gas consumption and will boost its efficiency significantly, he added.

Wang Jianming, the head of procurement of SepcoIII, said: “Siemens has supported us strongly in winning this important contract and we are confident that this project will be a success story for us and all involved parties."

The Chinese contractor has already used Siemens’ steam turbine technology for three solar thermal power plants in Morocco. The Noor II project also operates with a combination of the SST-800 and SST-500, he added.

Siemens said its components are already installed in the first and second stages of the Az Zour South power plant. The company supplied a total of eight SGT5-2000E gas turbines and two SST5-4000 steam turbines for this project.-TradeArabia News Service