GE Gas Turbines to Power ENKA's Electricity Plant in Iraq
General Electric Company (GE) inked a contract with leading Turkish utility company ENKA to supply turbines for a new combined-cycle Bazyan plant in Iraq. The new 750 megawatt ("MW") plant is being built by the Qaiwan Group, a major Kurdistan conglomerate, to support the development of electricity infrastructure in the Kurdistan region. ENKA will be involved in the construction of the power plant.
Per the contract, General Electric will provide four 9E gas turbines and one steam turbine for the plant in Sulaimaniyah. This represents the fourth power plant project in the Kurdistan region that will be powered by the conglomerate’s heavy-duty gas turbine technology. Its advanced turbine technology is proven and dependable, and will aid in supplementing the efficiency of the power projects.
The other three projects – Erbil, Sulaiymaniyah and Dohuk plants – are powered by 24 GE 9E gas turbines, and amount to over 3,000 MW of installed electricity capacity. This is comparable to the annual energy requirements of roughly 3 million homes in Iraq. The new Bazyan plant will power an additional 750,000 households, and sustain the fast-growing industrial operations in the area.
The new contract emphasizes upon ENKA’s conviction that General Electric’s advanced technology is well-equipped to fulfill the distinct environmental and power generation needs of the area. Additionally, the 9E turbines are well-suited for the Bazyan combined-cycle power plant as they are equipped with flexible fuel-handling facility – they can run on natural gas as well as on light and heavy distillate oil, crude oil, naphtha and residual oil.
The U.S. conglomerate has formed several regional partnerships over the years to promote electricity generation in the Kurdistan area, in order to enable steady power supply for both residential and industrial purposes. Its turbines support over 90% of the electricity produced in the region, translating into almost 20 hours of electricity supplied daily.
Kurdistan is experiencing robust growth in consumption, which is set to continue for years, driven by over $39 billion worth of ongoing projects in the region. In order to generate electricity to cater to the rapidly growing demand, the Kurdistan region intends to double its power-generating capacity to almost 6,000 MW by 2016. General Electric’s power generation equipment is well suited to fulfill the expansion demands of the region.
General Electric presently sports a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Other stocks in the diversified operations industry that look promising and are worth a look include Compass Diversified Holdings (CODI), CLARCOR Inc. (CLC) and Noble Group Ltd. (NOBGY), each of which holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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