(March 1, 2012) – Wärtsilä has signed an Operation & Maintenance (O&M) agreement with Energética Suape II SA in Brazil. The three-year agreement, which has the option of renewal, is a fast track, cost efficient, solution for providing operation and maintenance services with a fixed price structure. This enables the customer to accurately predict the plant's lifecycle costs.
With this agreement, Wärtsilä's Operation & Maintenance agreements cover more than 1.8 GW of installed power generation capacity in Brazil. Globally, more than 16 GW of generating capacity in both marine and land based installations is covered by Wärtsilä Operation & Maintenance and service agreements.
The O&M agreement is for the 380 MW Suape II power plant, which is equipped with seventeen 20-cylinder Wärtsilä 46F engines in V-configuration, and is the biggest plant ever built by Wärtsilä. The plant was inaugurated at the end of December 2011. As an intermediate load plant, it will feed electricity to the national grid when fluctuations in the supply of hydro power create a need for compensatory capacity. Hydro power accounts for some 90 per cent of Brazil's electricity production, but is subject to fluctuations due to seasonal rainfall levels.
A Wärtsilä team will be permanently on site to operate and maintain the power plant, thus optimising the availability of the plant. All major maintenance will be performed by Wärtsilä's field service teams. The Wärtsilä team and the operators on site are well trained in Brazilian regulatory procedures in case of an order to dispatch. The scheduling of maintenance planning can be adapted according to these orders.
"The fact that Wärtsilä has supplied and delivered the power solution, together with their extensive expertise in O&M agreements and their support structure in Brazil, made Wärtsilä a natural choice for us," says Mr Wilson Brasil, President of Energética Suape II SA.
"We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Energética Suape, and are naturally delighted to be selected as the O&M provider for this plant. This contract is fully aligned with our growth strategy for Brazil, and represents clear recognition of our service capabilities in the country," says Mr Robson Campos, Managing Director of Wärtsilä in Brazil.
Wärtsilä has more than two decades of experience in designing and providing tailored service, maintenance and O&M agreement solutions, both for land based power generation and marine installations. Wärtsilä Services manages some 16 GW of generating capacity in 55 countries. In the Americas, Wärtsilä operates approximately 2.4 GW of power generation capacity.
Wärtsilä provides complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising technological innovation and total efficiency, Wärtsilä maximises the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2011, Wärtsilä's net sales totalled EUR 4.2 billion with approximately 18,000 employees. The company has operations in nearly 170 locations in 70 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Finland.