China’s Shanghai Electric Group has completed construction of its first combined cycle power plant (CCCP) in Sylhet, Bangladesh.
The 225MW power plant replaces an old 150MW simple cycle gas turbine power plant in Sylhet and is expected to meet the growing electricity in the eastern region of Bangladesh.
The revamp of the plant will help in reducing emission while ensuring higher thermal efficiency at the plant. The project features a 100MW GVIP air-cooled generator.
The plant uses Global Vacuum Pressure Impregnation (GVPI) technology on the 100MW air-cooled generator. Shanghai Electric has also improved the efficiency of the original plant’s simple open-cycle application from 33% to 55%.
The company claims that the new plant has been designed to operate for its entire life without the need for rewedding or retightening its laminated core.
This has helped to increase the plant’s capacity by 90MW with less maintenance requirements. Before the upgradation, the plant used to generate 8.19 billion kWh of electricity and with the upgradation, the electricity generated will increase by another 640 million kWh on an annual basis.
The project was developed as a partnership between the region’s Power Development Board (PDB) and Shanghai Electric. It is the Chinese company’s fourth engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project in the country.
In 2010, after the Barapukuria thermal power plant, the initial simple cycle power plant of Sylhet was the second EPC project designed and constructed by Shanghai Electric in Bangladesh.
Sylhet project chief engineer Wang Yi said: “Retrofitting the gas turbine generator technology to convert from simple, open-cycle systems to combined-cycle operation requires skill and dedicated service, and we have built solid experience through overall 5 projects in Bangladesh so far since 2002.
“We are always looking ahead to anticipate client’s needs and improve the availability, reliability and efficiency through customized solution designed for different regional markets.”
It is estimated that the power requirement in Bangladesh is expected to reach 80GW by 2040, influenced by rapid economic growth.