Edited Press Release FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Augsburg-based engine builder MAN Diesel, a unit of MAN AG, has further expanded its turnkey diesel power business, MAN said Wednesday.
The company has awarded a contract from Fideicomiso Garabito, a trust created by Costa Rica's state-owned electric power utility Grupo ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) and Banco de Costa Rica (BCR).
The contract covers the design and construction of a diesel power station at Garabito near the city of Puntarenas in the West of the country.
From Dec. 2010, eleven of MAN Diesel's most powerful medium-speed engines, the eighteen cylinder, vee configuration type 18V48/60, will feed 200 MW of electrical power into Costa Rica's national grid.
When completed the power plant will be the biggest in Costa Rica, supplying approximately 10% of the nation's total installed electrical capacity. The value of the contract for MAN Diesel is more than EUR190 million.
To date, Costa Rica has been in a position to cover around
80% of its electrical power from hydro-electric plants. This is, however, becoming increasingly difficult and the country is dependent on alternative sources of energy, especially during the dry season which lasts from Nov. to May. To bridge the shortfall, in future Grupo ICE will rely on diesel power stations.
Accordingly, MAN Diesel will equip the new power station at Garabito with state-of-the-art exhaust gas treatment systems. An electrostatic particle precipitator (ESP) will use electrostatic separation to remove particles from the engine exhaust gases. With this measure and the intrinsically clean combustion of the advanced 48/60 four-stroke engine, the emissions of the Garabito plant will comply with Costa Rica's local emissions limits and those of the World Bank.