Italian firms complete South African power plant

(AGI) - Cape Town, Aug. 9 - Italian thermal power producer companies Fata SpA and Ansaldo Energia completed a gas turbine open cycle power plant for the production of electric energy near Durban in the Kwazulu-Natal province of South Africa.The 685 megawatt Avon Peaking power plant was completed in partnership with an international consortium of businesses which include GDF Suez, the Japanese company Mistui & Co, South African firm Legend Power Solutions and other South African partners. The project, realised in the framework of South Africa's Independent Power Producers Programme, started in September 2013 with the signing of a contract between the consortium and Eskom, the country's electricity public utility.The Independent Power Producers Programme was established by the South African government to allow it to procure energy from independent power producers. The aim of the programme is to diversify energy producers and to increase energy reliability and lower the costs for the consumer.

Enzo Chieppa, Fata's Communications director, said the completion of the Avon Power Plant is a great achievement for the company as they finished the project on time as per the client's contractual requirements. "The Avon Power is a one of the few thermal power plants completed on time and in full compliance with the contractual requirements in terms of skill, financial strength, reliability, safety compliance and quality. We hope that our performance will please the South African government and secure us further work opportunities," he said. The Avon power plant is the second Independent Power Producer project in South Africa by the consortium. The first of the group's local projects, the 342 megawatt gas-fired Dedisa Peaking Power plant in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province, went into commercial operation last year, selling power to Eskom under a 15-year power purchase agreement. The plants are the first large-scale independent thermal plants to be developed in South Africa outside of Eskom. (AGI)