Washington Group International has won a contract worth USD 90 million for a gas-fired power plant in Ecuador. The contract is for engineering, procurement, construction management and start-up services. Noble Affiliates Inc. is developing the project through unit Machalapower Ltda Cia. The power plant will be supplied with natural gas from wells off the coast of Ecuador that are owned and operated by Noble’s Energy Development Corporation Ecuador Ltd (EDC). In its final configuration, the power plant will generate 240mw of power for local use and for use by the Ecuadorian national power grid. The Machala plant will come on line in two phases. Phase 1, a simple-cycle operation providing 130mw of electric output, is scheduled to start up in the first half of 2002. In phase 2, the plant will be converted to combined-cycle operation. When both phases are completed, the plant will consist of two combustion turbine generators, two heat recovery steam generators, and one steam turbine generator. A new transmission line will provide interconnection to the national power grid.
