ABB receives USD 470 million contract to build a 260-megawatt low-emission integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant - the first in Italy to produce electrical power from oil refinery residues.
Zurich, Switzerland, January 9, 1996 - ABB, the international electrical engineering company, has received an order valued at approximately USD 470 million to build an integrated tar gasification and 260-megawatt combined-cycle power plant at an oil refinery in Falconara, Italy. The refinery is owned by Anonima Petroli Italiana (Api), Italys main privately-owned oil refining company. The order was placed by Api Energia, a 50-50 joint venture formed between ABB and Api to develop the overall project. The plant will be the first in Italy to produce electrical power from oil refinery residues. Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in January 1996 and reach completion within 39 months.
As a turnkey project, ABB will supply the gas and steam turbines for combined-cycle operation, together with the associated heat recovery steam boiler, the electricity generators and the power plant control system. ABB will also be responsible for the engineering and construction of the complete plant, including the engineering of the oil residue gasification system.
The plant will be able to gasify 440,000 tons per year of visbreaker tar, a heavy oil residue, to produce fuel for the gas turbines. The power plant will incorporate ABBs advanced combined-cycle technology and low-NOx burners, which achieve high fuel efficiency with low emissions well below the more stringent limits envisaged in the future by Italy and the European Union. The plant will supply steam to the refinery and power to the national electricity grid of the Italian state electrical utility, Enel.
The award of this contract follows completion of a complex financing scheme arranged by ABB Energy Ventures and ABB Project and Trade Finance to cover the overall project, for which the investment is valued at over USD 800 million. 75 percent of this will be financed by a pool of international banks which includes the European Investment Bank. The remaining 25 percent will be provided by ABB and Api. Morgan Stanley has been a financial adviser for the scheme.
In Italy, ABB employs 12,000 people in 40 companies with sales of approximately USD 2 billion. ABBs Power Generation segment employs more than 40,000 people worldwide with orders in 1994 of nearly USD 10 billion. The ABB Group employs approximately 212,000 people with orders in 1994 of nearly USD 32 billion. (End)