Jun 15 2010
On 26 May 2010, the Prime Minister of Mauritania, Mr Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, together with Luka Buljan, Empower CEO, laid the first brick during the Ceremony to mark the beginning of construction of the new Empower generating plant in the capital, Nouakchott.
Earlier in the year, Empower, a company focused on supplying fast and interim power solutions to the emerging markets, signed an agreement with SOMELEC, the Mauritanian national electricity company, for the engineering, procurement and construction of a 36 MW HFO-fired generation plant.
The plant will be located in an industrial area approximately 10 km south-west of Nouakchott. It will increase SOMELEC's installed capacity in the capital by around 70%, translating to an increase of 50% for the entire country. SOMELEC will then be able to decommission expensive emergency diesel generators currently in use.
Empower will build a plant consisting of 3 x 12 MW modular blocks, each comprising 3 medium speed engines from MAN of Germany at 4 MW each. The plant will include a tank farm that can store 8,000 tons of fuel and will connect into a new substation built by SOMELEC. The plant will run on heavy fuel-oil, the most affordable fuel currently available in Mauritania.
Luka Buljan, Empower's CEO, remarked: "This is a very significant and exciting day for Empower and the people of Mauritania. Our ability to provide electricity in a relatively short time period will mean SOMELEC can supply a more affordable and reliable power supply to the country."
SOMELEC has been working closely with Empower and chose the Empower solution due to the immediate availability of its equipment and its ability to install the plant in a relatively short time frame compared to that of conventional power stations. Following the completion of civil works, Empower's assembly and commissioning for the plant will take approximately 4 months.
Source: http://www.empower.co.nz/