Wärtsilä Awarded Operations And Maintenance Contracts In Brazil

Wärtsilä has signed three important operations and maintenance (O&M) agreements during the past months for power plants in Brazil.

"Wärtsilä has been operating power plants in Brazil for many years and these orders shows that the customers and the market has confidence in us as an O&M provider and appreciate the added value we bring," says Tomas Hakala, President, Wärtsilä in Latin America.

Manaus Energia SA, a subsidiary of Eletronorte, has placed an O&M order with Wärtsilä for its 158 MW Bloco 4 do Complexo Termelétrico de Mauá plant in Manaus, Brazil. Wärtsilä built the power plant in 1998, which is equipped with ten Wärtsilä 18V46 generating sets running on heavy fuel oil (HFO). On January 16th 2008 the Power Purchase Agreement came to the end of its term and the facility was handed over by the Independent Power Producer to Manaus Energia, a subsidiary of the Brazilian federal electric utility. Simultaneously Wärtsilä commenced the operation of the facility.

The current O&M agreement, which covers full operations and maintenance, has a term of one year during which all the engines will have their major overhauls done. Wärtsilä was able to assume the operation of this 158 MW plant in just 35 days after signing the O&M agreement - an exceptional performance given the size and location of the plant.

The work involved in the O&M agreement for this plant is managed from the new Manaus workshop that was inaugurated on 8th of April. The new workshop is serving the growing number of customers in the Amazon region.

The two other O&M agreements were signed for the operations and maintenance of the Termocabo and UTE Petrolina power plants located in Pernambuco, Brazil. Both plants had been in cold stand-by mode for several years until December 2007, when they needed to be re-activated as urgently as possible. Wärtsilä's Brazilian team was able to re-start operations at both sites with just five days advance notice. Wärtsilä has been operating the plants since then and signed the full O&M agreements in March. The agreements will accommodate three different operational modes, hot and cold standby and base-load mode, providing the customers with great operational flexibility.

The 128 MW Petrolina power plant has eight Wärtsilä 18V46 engines installed, and the Termocabo plant is based on three Wärtsilä 18V46 engines. Both power plants run on heavy fuel oil and supply electricity to the national grid.

The two O&M agreements are covering full operations and maintenance including performance guarantees for availability, heat rate and output.

Wärtsilä currently has more than 3700 MW under O&M agreements world-wide and a total of 600 MW under O&M agreements in Brazil alone