Siemens Signs MOU for Large Bangladesh Power Project
Siemens has confirmed to NGW that it has initialed an agreement relating to a major gas-fired power project in Bangladesh, while its Japanese rival has received a smaller firm order from China.
A spokesman for the German turbine-making giant Siemens said it "has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPCL), Bangladesh, to supply and install a 3,600 MW combined cycle power plant at Payra, Patuakhali, Bangladesh." It described NWPCL as an enterprise of the state Bangladesh Power Development Board.
Bangladesh's minister of state for power and energy Nasrul Hamid told local news agency bdnews24.com November 5 that the project is expected to start by June 2018. Its report said that NWPCL is already building a 1,320MW coal-fired power plant with China's help nearby.
The MoU was reportedly signed November 6. The 3,600 MW plant, which would run on regasified LNG, expected to cost $2.8bn. Siemens did not disclose to NGW any expected contract value.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in September opened the country's third sea port in Patuakhali; the deep sea project is supposed to be completed next year.
The Siemens MOU is the latest in a series of power plant procurement announcements in Bangladesh: US rival GE was recently chosen to supply a smaller plant being developed there by an Indian firm.
Bangladesh has separately inked agreements relating to at least three 3.75mn mt/year floating storage and regasification units (LNG import terminal projects).
Separately, Japanese turbine-maker Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) has received an order from a power project in the northeast Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, 300km southeast of Beijing. The order is for two H-25 gas turbines, for use in an 80 MW gas-fired combined cycle power plant project being developed by Qingdao Energy Kaiyuan Thermoelectricity, a subsidiary of the Qingdao Energy Group, which is itself owned by Qingdao City government. The turbines are due to begin operations in December 2018 and the plant itself will provide power and heat for industrial processes and companies in an industrial zone near the city. MHPS will produce the two 32 MW H-25 type gas turbines, and supply them through its local main contractor Harbin Guanghan Power Technology Development.
Mark Smedley, Shardul Sharma