FLORENCE, ITALY, May 18, 2005: -- GE Energy, working with Enel of Italy, has received a turnkey contract to supply a steam turbine and additional balance-of-plant equipment for the expansion of a geothermal generating plant at Berlin in the province of Usulatan, El Salvador. The facility is located 112 kilometers east of El Salvador's capital city, San Salvador.
Separately, GE Energy has signed a letter of intent with ENEX hf of Iceland to supply a Rotoflow expander package for the geothermal binary cycle of the same facility.
The Berlin geothermal field is operated by LAGEO SA of El Salvador, a joint venture between Enel and CEL that also operates the Auhachapan geothermal field for a total actual energy production of about 940 GWh/year, or approximately 20% of the total energy production in the country.
GE Energy has responsibility for conceptual and detailed engineering and supply of the complete plant expansion, with El Salvador companies handling the civil works construction and erection phases. When completed in the second quarter of 2006, the expanded geothermal plant will add 44 megawatts of power for the El Salvador grid. The existing plant is producing 56 megawatts.
"Geothermal generation has perhaps the least environmental impact of any large-scale generating process," said Claudi Santiago, president of GE Energy's oil and gas segment. "Non-condensable gases are stripped out from the condenser by means of ejectors and liquid ring pumps. The plant has a small footprint, and compared to other thermal generating plants, its output of greenhouse gases is virtually zero."
GE Energy is supplying a double-flow type, model SDFG2-22 steam turbine specially developed for geothermal use. It incorporates features to optimize performance and reliability under the existing site conditions. The steam turbine will be manufactured at GE Energy's oil and gas business facilities in Florence, Italy and shipped to El Salvador in the first quarter of 2006.
GE's turnkey contract also includes the supply of an electrical generator, step-up transformers and substation, a station control system, condenser, vacuum system, air-cooled refrigeration towers and circulating water pumps, vapor system and the building to contain the turbo generator.
The Rotoflow expander package will be supplied to ENEX hf of Iceland, a company owned by all the leading Icelandic companies including VGK Engineering, for installation at the Berlin complex. VGK and GE Energy's oil and gas business worked on another Rotoflow expander project in Husavik, Iceland in 2003-2004.
The turbo expander for the Berlin project will be installed in the bottoming cycle of a geothermal binary process working with iso-pentane. At design conditions, the Frame 60 Rotoflow turbo expander integral gear generator package expands 124 kg/s of iso-pentane at 160°C from 22 bar down to 2 bar. This expansion extracts approximately 9,700 kilowatts of energy and the iso-pentane cools to 94° C.
GE Energy has more than 35 years of experience in the design, supply and support of geothermal plants. Particularly, GE Energy has broad experience with Enel in the Larderello (Italy) geothermal area, where the company has supplied incondensate gas extraction systems. Beginning in 2000, GE Energy also has been the turnkey supplier for seven power plants in Italy.
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technology, with 2004 revenue of $17.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy provides equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, transmission and distribution, distributed power and energy rental industries.
About Enel
Enel is one of the leading companies in the renewable energy field with about 17,000 megawatts of production capacity in Europe and the Americas. The company currently operates more than 600 power plants including hydroelectric, wind, biomass and geothermal, and has a significant investment plan for international geothermal development through Enel Latin America.
For more information, contact:
Dennis Murphy
GE Energy
+1 678 844 6948
[email protected]
Ken Darling or Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
+1 518 786 6488
[email protected]
[email protected]
Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
[email protected]
1-518-786-6488
Ken Darling
Masto Public Relations
[email protected]
1-518-786-6488