Wartsila said its Flexicycle power generation technology is powering the 130 MW power plant, which is operational in Malicounda, Senegal.
Matelec, a leading energy company in Africa, operates the power plant. Matelec has a 10-year maintenance agreement with Wartsila to guarantee its availability and reliability of power supply.
The power plant, located in Mbour, 85 km south of Senegal’s capital Dakar, will deliver 956 GWh of power per year, which represents a 17 percent increase in the country’s power generation capacity.
Matelec, who was the plant EPC contractor, has selected Wartsila for the delivery of its energy efficient 130 MW Flexicycle power generation technology. The Malicounda power plant comprises seven 18V50 engines and a steam turbine, combining the advantages of a simple-cycle operation with the high efficiency of a combined cycle plant.
The plant will initially operate on heavy fuel oil. There is an option to convert the plant to run on locally supplied gas from the GTA field once it becomes available, further lowering the cost of energy.
The Malicounda power plant is a central part of the government’s Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) to strengthen the emerging economy and provide electricity access to everyone by 2025. It was the first public private partnership (PPP) projects in West Africa, involving the Africa Development Bank, Africa50, the Infrastructure Development Fund for Africa, and Senelec, Senegal’s state power utility.
“We are confident that that this highly efficiency plant will enable Senegal to reduce electricity production costs,” said Marc Thiriet, Director, Africa at Wartsila Energy.
Wartsila is Senegal’s leading provider of power generating equipment, and already has 543 MW of installed capacity in altogether 20 power plants in the country. With the Malicounda power plant included, 458 MW of this capacity is under Wartsila long-term maintenance agreements.