Wärtsilä has received full notice to proceed with the delivery of the engines for two new power plants being built by an investor owned utility in the USA.
The plants are owned by Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation (UMERC). The selection of the Wärtsilä smart power generation solution was made in order to accommodate a broad range of operating profiles for which flexibility is a prime requirement.
The two power plants, located in the Negaunee and Baraga townships in Michigan, will have a combined output of 188 MW provided by a total of ten Wärtsilä 50SG engines running on natural gas fuel. The fast starting and responsive flexibility of the Wärtsilä solution was, therefore, cited as being an important consideration in the award of this contract. Furthermore, by operating on clean burning natural gas, the environmental impact of the two new plants will be minimized.
The Wärtsilä plants will replace an existing coal-fired power plant and are expected to provide baseload and intermittent power.
The Wärtsilä engines are scheduled for delivery in the latter half of 2018 and the plants are expected to come on line in 2019.
