Wärtsilä to supply 28MW combined heat and power plant to Canada
Finnish technology group Wärtsilä will supply a 28MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant to the Meliadine Gold Mine project in Canada, owned by Agnico Eagle Mines.
The order includes five Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines running on light fuel oil (LFO) or natural gas. Wärtsilä's scope includes the power generation and CHP equipment supply, plant commissioning and training.
The plant is expected to be operational during the first quarter of 2019. The order is included in Wärtsilä's order book for the fourth quarter of 2016.
The power plant will provide baseload power for this new mine and mining facilities located in the Nunavut Territory, in the north of Canada. In addition to supplying electricity for the equipment and operations, the plant will also capture heat from the engines and engine exhaust and deliver that heat to the underground mine and buildings. This will achieve an extremely high level of overall efficiency.
As the Meliadine mine is off-grid, the mine needs to secure its own heat and power supply at all times. A dedicated, independent power generation solution is, therefore, very important.
Furthermore, in addition to offering a reliable and highly efficient power plant, Wärtsilä's dual-fuel technology has been selected with the future needs of Meliadine in mind. Initially the power plant will run on light-fuel oil, but natural gas may be available in the future. When this occurs the power plant can seamlessly switch over to natural gas.
"This power plant will provide both power and heat to the Meliadine project,” said Mark Kennedy, business development manager for Canada at Wärtsilä Energy Solutions. “Efficient and reliable energy is critical to the project to ensure smooth operations, especially in this remote, arctic environment. Our proven engine and CHP technology fits very well with the needs of the customer.”
Wärtsilä has a well-established footprint in North America with an installed base of more than 3000MW. Globally, Wärtsilä's installed power plant base is 63 GW in 176 countries.
