First floating generation plant sets sail

Karadeniz Powerships will deliver mobile, dual-fuel floating power plants to Basra, Iraq, with 144MW units supplying electricity to port facilities and residential areas via Umm Qasr infrastructure under the Power of Friendship project.

The first floating power generating plant in the world, selfpropelled and with a full crew, has sailed from Istanbul in Turkey for the port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq, where it will be moored. The electricity generated from the plant will be transferred to the electricity grid of Basra.

The Karadeniz powership Dogan Bey has a total length of 188 meters and was constructed by Karadeniz Holding AS. The ship was previously the bulk carrier Melpomeni, built in Malta in 1984 and having a gross tonnage of 24,729 tons, before being converted to a 144megawatt MW floating power plant.

The Karadeniz Powership Dogan Bey is expected to begin generating electricity for Basra, supplying electricity to Iraq by the end of April. A second power ship will be towed to the port later this year. This floating plant is an engineless barge with a total length of 110 meters, named the KPS3. It also has a 144MW generating capacity. Between them, the two floating power plants are expected to meet up to 30 of Basras power requirements, including those of the port facilities and residential areas.

The two plants are a part of the Power of Friendship project developed and undertaken by the Karadeniz Energy Group. The project is targeted at assisting countries with electricity supplies by the use of floating power generators, following a recent contract for electricity signed in Iraq to expand capacity. Under the project, more than 10 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia will be provided with electricity by 10 such ships by the end of 2010. In total the ships will generate 2,010 MW of electricity.

Karadeniz Holdings currently has four floating power plants with a total value of more than $500 million and a generating capacity of 675 MW. The KPS3 barge was constructed in Singapore, while the remaining three powerships were constructed in the Sedef dockyard in the Tuzla district of Istanbul. The company plans to build three more powerships, with a total generating capacity of 450 MW, as Iraq signs a contract with GE to expand generation.

The powerships operate on dualfuel systems and have the ability to convert fuel oil into natural gas in just one day. Iraq has already completed the necessary infrastructure at Umm Qasr, including the electricity transmission network, while pursuing $8 billion deals with Siemens and GE to boost capacity, to carry the power onshore, and the fuel supply network for the floating plants.

Turkey has a history of extending assistance to Iraq that stretches back more than 100 years, starting from the construction of the IstanbulBaghdad railway line. Turkey has been supplying electricity to Iraq from two power plants in the southeast of Turkey since 2003, later agreeing to provide 500 MW of temporary power as needed, and sees the supply of the powerships as a logical extension of this aid.

The Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Taner Yildiz, who attended the sailing ceremony, was reported as commenting that the powerships project would assist the normalization of Iraq and, through regional energy cooperation, contribute to the prosperity of the country. Energy will be the trigger of peace in the region, not wars. This is what this ship will do, he added.

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