September 15, 2007

Al Ezzel Power Plant, Isle of Muharraq, Bahrain

Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

Running on a fast track

The EPC contract specified a very ambitious, two-phase development schedule: The entire plant had to be ready for commissioning (Figure 3) within 29 months. The 470-MW Phase I (with all four gas turbines operating in simple-cycle mode) was completed on time in April 2006, just ahead of the summer peak in demand. Completion of Phase II in May 2007 added another 480 MW.

3. Royal company. Al Ezzel was officially commissioned on May 15 during a ceremony hosted by Crown Prince HH Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, commander-in-chief of the Bahrain Defense Force. Courtesy: Siemens Power Generation

Under its EPC contract, Siemens supplied four SGT5-2000E combustion turbine-generators equipped with dry, low-NO_x burners, two steam turbine-generator sets, and all electrical and instrumentation and control systems. The plant controls are based on Siemens' Teleperm XP system, which last year was renamed the SPPA-T2000. The owner's engineer was Tractebel Al Khaleej (www.engineering.tractebel.be/company/1324.htm).

Safety a burning concern

Siemens' management of the project emphasized safety: There were only two minor lost-time accidents during more than 4.2 million man-hours of work. This safety record is even more impressive if you consider the working conditions and the number of workers on a reasonably tight project site. The average daytime summer high temperature in the region exceeds 100F, and humidity is higher than you'd expect in the desert. The manpower peak on the project reached 1,850 persons in December 2005. Over the course of the three-year project, more than 1,000 workers were on-site on an average day.