Paris, November 10, 2010 — Alstom, a global leader in power generation, will retrofit six units (7 to 12) of the 4,460 MW Belchatow power plant, Europe’s largest and the world’s second largest fossil power plant.
The two contracts signed with PGE Gornictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna S.A., which owns and operates Belchatow and several power plants in Poland, are worth about $192 million.
The first contract with PGE covers the retrofitting of the turbine island equipment on six of Belchatow’s units. Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will engineer, supply and install the high pressure and intermediate pressure turbines, its associated auxiliaries, the turbine controller, bypass systems, heater refurbishment, instrumentation and control and integration engineering coupled with installation supervision.
When completed, the retrofit will increase each of the six units’ power output by 20 MW, bringing a total output increase of 120 MW, enough to power 240,000 additional homes.
The project will boost cycle efficiency by 2.4 percent, thereby reducing the specific carbon dioxide emissions by about 600,000 tons per year. This will ensure the units’ compliance with EU emissions directive 2001/80/WE. Alstom’s retrofit will also improve the six units’ availability and reliability as well as support the extension of the plant’s lifetime by 25 years.
PGE began modernizing Belchatow in 1997, and awarded Alstom a contract to retrofit the plant’s low-pressure steam turbines. PGE has since continued its strategy concerning power plant modernization and again contracted Alstom for the retrofit of units 3-12, to ensure Belchatow’s compliance with EU emissions directives and to extend the lifetime of the units.
