40 MW Plant Fast-Tracked For Myanmar

Wärtsilä has been awarded a 40 MW extended engineered equipment supply contract for a power plant in Shwe Taung, in the southern central part of Myanmar.

The baseload power plant will feed the national grid and will help to alleviate the country’s ongoing energy shortage. The order by independent power producer (IPP) MCM Power with Wärtsilä was placed in September and the delivery is being expedited on a fast-track basis. The plant will operate on four Wärtsilä 34SG engines fueled by natural gas. The plant is expected to become operational in April 2020. The plant is planned to double the output to 80 MW at a future date.

Demand for electricity is rapidly increasing in Myanmar, and the country’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) has estimated that peak demand will rise to 4531 MW in 2020 from the 2018 demand of 3500 MW, an increase of nearly 24%. Additional power generation is, therefore, urgently needed and the plant will help MCM Power meet its power purchase agreement (PPA) obligations to supply electricity to the national grid.

MCM is a co-owner in another power plant supplied by Wärtsilä in Myanmar, so we have very good experience with the efficiency of the Wärtsilä engines, as well as with the support and cooperation that the company has given us,” said Mr. U Aung Hlaing Oo, managing director of MCM Power. “We look forward to continuing this partnership. The levelized cost of energy provided by the Wärtsilä solution to Shwe Taung is very favorable and the new power plant helps us to meet the obligations towards MOEE.”

The plant will provide a much needed reliable power supply to the local area, and will also create employment opportunities because of this, according to Nicolas Leong, sales director, North & East Asia, Wärtsilä Energy Business.

Wärtsilä earlier supplied a 145 MW power plant to Kyaukse township in the Mandalay region of Myanmar. This also was delivered and installed on a fast-track basis because of the country’s urgent need of additional generating capacity.