pwr_october-2023 - 22

TOP PLANT
Feat of Engineering Provides
Floating Power Solution
Courtesy: Invenergy
A project utilizing liquefied natural gas (LNG) is supporting power generation in El
Salvador and playing a major role in the country's energy transformation.
Darrell Proctor
A
n energy project in El Salvador has
been called transformative for the
Central American country, which
has long relied on hydro and geothermal
resources to support its power generation.
Government officials are pushing
for the country to diversify its energy mix
and recognizing that foreign investment
is needed to support new electricityproducing
projects, both renewable and
thermal. It's against that backdrop that
Invenergy, a global energy project developer,
joined with Wärtsilä and others to
design and build a power generation project
unlike any other in the region.
Energía del Pacífico, or EDP-located
in the port of Acajutla-is a 380MW
power plant fueled by natural gas,
with the fuel supplied via pipeline from
an LNG floating storage and regasification
unit (FSRU) on El Salvador's Pacific
Coast. The project includes a 44-kilometer
(27-mile) 230-kV double-circuit transmission
line and associated substations,
running from the Acajutla facility to
Ahuachapán, a city of more than 110,000
people in western El Salvador. The transmission
line also connects the power
plant to the Central American Electrical
Interconnection System (SIEPAC), an interconnection
of the power grids of six
Central American countries.
" One of the biggest known challenges
at the outset of the project was the
fact that there had never before been
a gas-fired power plant served by LNG
imports in El Salvador, so we needed
to create the means of importing and
storing LNG, " said Jose Sarmiento, vice
22
president and country manager for Invenergy,
EDP's primary developer, in
El Salvador. " Given the complexity and
sheer size and scope of this project, we
experienced many challenges including
permitting hurdles to get the natural gas
transported to the power plant. " That
included, as Sarmiento noted, " a permanently
moored floating storage and
regasification unit to regasify imported
LNG, " along with " a pipeline bored
through volcanic rock. "
The EDP project represents an investment
of about $1.15 billion, which is
the single largest foreign direct investment
in the country's history. Construction
began in early 2020, and the power
plant entered commercial operation in
May 2022. Sarmiento said, " EDP's electric
generation represents the largest
and most efficient thermal plant in the
country, providing baseload balance to
support the addition of intermittent renewable
power resources. "
Construction and Permitting
Challenges
Sarmiento told POWER, " A significant
permitting challenge was the absence of
laws to govern the FSRU installation and
the shipments via pipeline to bring the
gas to the power plant. " Sarmiento said
Invenergy worked with the government
of El Salvador " to create and implement
the region's first regulations for offshore
gas storage and natural gas transportation
to shore. Establishing this critical
regulatory framework lays the foundation
for future developments that will improve
environmental stewardship. "
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Sarmiento said another obstacle " was
securing a safe and environmentally responsible
pipeline route to the power
plant. Connecting the FSRU [Figure 1] to
shore posed a challenge because El Salvador's
Pacific cliffs are environmentally
protected. The location of the onshore
power plant could have entailed the pipeline
delivering gas from the FSRU to the
power station running over a cliff where
the line meets the shore. Because of the
negative visual impact this route would
have introduced, the decision was made
to bore through the volcanic rock of the
cliff. Traditional methods posed risks, so
the team repurposed a micro-tunneling
technique from the mining sector and
adapted it to drill through solid volcanic
rock to connect the FSRU to the power
station. "
Sarmiento said, " The offshore LNG
terminal is an ongoing energy transition
enabler for the country, providing the
opportunity to develop additional infrastructure
to supply gas to other regional
consumers. "
Wärtsilä Engines
The EDP combined cycle power plant
features 19 Wärtsilä 18V50SG natural
gas-powered reciprocating engines,
each rated at 18.9 MW, and one 28-MW
steam turbine generator powered by
steam produced from the heat recovered
from each engine. It is at present
the largest, and considered the most efficient,
thermal power plant in El Salvador.
The electricity produced at EDP has
displaced power generation from burning
heavy fuel oil, which is important to
POWER | October 2023
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PWR_ October-2023

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