Russia, Germany to Float Mobile Power Stations by 2010
Two revolutionary mobile power stations, developed separately by companies in Russia and Germany, could soon be afloat. Russian investment management company United Industrial Corp. (Russian acronym OPK) said last week it is on track to launch the world’s first floating nuclear power station by 2010, while German power generation giant RWE could soon pilot a combined-cycle gas turbine “power barge,” deploying it at continental shores where electricity is most needed.
Russia’s OPK said in a press release that it planned to complete the production of steam generators for its two-reactor floating nuclear power station by 2009. The company had contracted Baltiysky Zavod, an OPK entity, to build all eight steam generators in 2006. Construction for the second set of generators was completed in October 2008.
About 450 feet long, OPK’s floating nuclear power station is expected to have a total capacity of 70 MW (see “Russia’s new nuclear navy,” POWER, July/August 2006). It will be located in the north of the Russian Federation, where key energy supplies are lacking, OPK said. The reactors’ thermal energy can be sent up to 180 miles away. The plant’s design lifespan is 40 years, with refueling every two to three years. The project is said to have a 12-year payback.
RWE Power meanwhile announced this week that it would unveil a pilot “power barge” project—a combined-cycle gas turbine power station that will be erected on floating pontoons—at the E-World–Energy & Water trade fair in Essen, Germany, on Feb. 10. When deployed—by 2010, the company hopes—the first RWE power barges would provide electricity to shortage-stricken countries on the eastern Mediterranean and on the Black Sea.
“We will be able to provide electricity quickly and reliably exactly where it is needed at a given time,” explained Dr. Johannes Lambertz, CEO of RWE Power, in a press release. “It is also a low risk way of exploring new growth markets for large projects on land.”
Lambertz pointed out that the project is new to Europe, though beyond the continent, some 60 floating power plants with a total capacity of more than 4 GW are already in operation. The largest of these is a 220-MW unit at Mangalore, in southwest India, according to Waller Marine Inc., the project’s designer. “Other designs that are in operation throughout the world use industrial turbines, heavy fuel diesel engines, and steam turbines,” the maritime services provider says on its web site.
Waller Marine is currently carrying out design work on an even larger project: a 520-MW combined-cycle facility that will provide power to New York City. The company is also working on a modularized integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant, which would be fueled by petcoke.
The RWE power barges, like other floating power plants, would not have their own propulsion systems but would be tugged to the desired location. The 98-foot by 328-foot units would then be anchored and connected to the gas or electricity grid.
RWE Power has already started an EU-wide call for tenders for the pilot barge. “We are also looking for partner companies in the target countries who can support us with expertise and local knowledge in selecting locations and the authorisation procedure,” Lambertz said.
Sources: OPK, RWE, POWER, Waller Marine