Azito Phase 3

active

The Project is an expansion (“Azito Phase III”) of the Azito Power Plant by converting the plant to combined cycle operation. This conversion essentially involves addition of two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) and a 139 MW steam turbine, to the existing 2 x 144 MW simple cycle natural gas-fired turbines. The Project is expected to generate about 50 percent more power without using additional gas (gas turbines’ exhaust heat generates steam in a boiler to power a steam turbine) and with zero incremental emissions. This switch from simple-cycle power generation to combined cycle will increase energy efficiency of the Azito Power Plant from approximately 29.5 percent to approximately 44 percent (Gross HHV).Azito Power Plant, as planned in the initial project design in 1998, consists of building, owning, operating and eventually transferring to the State, a gas-fired power station with a total capacity of approximately 420 MW, to be implemented in three phases. In the first phase 144 MW simple cycle gas turbine operation was commissioned in January 1999 and in the second phase the second 144 MW simple cycle gas turbine was commissioned in February 2000. Expansion of capacity through conversion to combined cycle, which was originally planned in the third phase (in 2002) has been delayed but is being undertaken now. The existing gas turbines are designed to operate with natural gas (mainly) and distillate oil (back-up only). However, since initial commissioning of the Plant in 1999, the turbines have exclusively operated on gas. The distillate oil storage tanks (2 x 6000 m3) and related facilities will continue to be maintained for back up operation. Gas for the Plant comes from three sources in CÔte d’ Ivoire: the Devon fields (Lion/Panthèere), the Foxtrot field; and the CNR fields (Espoir/Baobab), with Foxtrot field as the primary gas supplier.Azito Power Plant is located on a 5 ha plot of land near the Azito village in Yopougon District, approximately six kilometers West of the port of Abidjan in CÔte d’ Ivoire . The Plant premises are located alongside the Western arm of the Ebrié lagoon and the finished ground level (±0.00 level) in the Plant is +4.5 m above mean sea level. Béago, a second village is located about 300 m North East from the Plant boundary. The Plant premises are bordered (along the Northern fence) by a gas treatment unit, independently operated by Foxtrot, which provides condensate-free feed gas to Azito Power Plant, and by an electrical switchyard operated by the Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electicité (CIE – national electricity distribution company) on its Western fence. The existing transmission line (T-Line) is adequate to evacuate power from the expanded capacity.The Project involves construction of: steam turbine installation and building; HRSG installation; air-cooled condenser installation; control and electrical building; water treatment building/de-mineralization plant; administrative building; and warehouse. The duration of the construction works will be approximately 27 months. The Project does not require any land acquisition, since the facilities will be built over land which is already part of the Azito Power Plant concession. The temporary lay down areas and workers accommodation camps during the construction phase may occupy land outside of the site limit but these will also be within the existing 300 m exclusion zone around the existing power plant. The Project site can be accessed by an existing road. Much of the construction material, and construction and project equipment will be transported on this access route but there is a possibility that construction and project equipment may be transported by barges from Abidjan port.