International Power plc (London) has announced a joint venture partnership agreement with Ansaldo Energia (Italy) to develop up to 4000mw of new generation in five different greenfield sites in southern Italy with each of the five sites consisting of 800mw power units utilising Combined-Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology. An International Power development programme in another partnership has also confirmed a USD 1.6 billion power and water purchase agreement in the UAE with the local Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA). The project will consist of 3-4 phases with the first phase, which includes a gas-fired 1500mw combined-cycle power plant and a 100 million gallon per day desalination water plant, scheduled to begin construction in the third quarter of 2002. The construction contract was recently awarded to a consortium consisting of Siemens AG (Germany) and Fisia Italimpianti (Italy) with an operational start-up scheduled for the summer of 2004 and with the possibility of later additions increasing the capacity at the site to 5000mw by 2010. These six projects mentioned in the Europe/Middle East region have a potential generating capacity of 8500mw with an overall capital investment of USD 7.5 billion and will nearly double the company’s net generation capacity to 19,700mw by the year 2015.
