Rolls-Royce seals £40 million Polish power plant contract
5 Dec 2001
Rolls-Royce Power Ventures (RRPV), a 40 per cent shareholder in Energobaltic, has signed an agreement that gives the go-ahead for a new £40 million heat and power plant - the first of its kind in eastern and central Europe.
The plant reportedly forms a key part of a project that will convert large quantities of natural gas, which at present go to waste, into clean, useful energy for the coastal resort of Wladyslawowo, north of Gdansk.
Two Rolls-Royce gas turbine generators will comprise the core of the combined heat and power plant, which will displace some 100 inefficient and polluting coal-fired boilers that currently provide heat for the town.
Widespread environmental benefits will stem from the project. Natural gas - a by-product of oil extraction in the Baltic Sea and which at present is flared-off at the oil rig - will be converted into clean liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for road vehicles and boilers.
The new plant will use some 100,000 cubic metres of natural gas per day, producing 16,000 tonnes of LPG per year (eliminating the use of 32,000 tonnes of coal) and export more than 80,000MWh of electricity annually.
