Wärtsilä deliver uninterrupted performance

Saudi cement producer renews power generation O&M agreement for further five years

TECHNOLOGY group Wärtsilä have signed a five-year operation and maintenance (O&M) agreement with Saudi Arabian cement producers Umm AlQura Cement Company – the third agreement term for the customer’s captive power plant installation.

An initial three-year long-term agreement, signed in 2015, has now been renewed twice. Following the continued efficient and reliable performance of the power plant, in the latest agreement the contract was renewed for a further five years in November 2020.

The 47MW plant is located in Taif City, in Western Saudi Arabia. It operates with five Wärtsilä 32TS engines, a turbocharged version of the standard Wärtsilä 32 engine series, which features low fuel and lube oil consumption.

As the plant supplies the power needed to operate the cement production facility, reliability and availability are essential, and Wärtsilä believe the twice-renewed O&M agreement provides clear evidence that these essentials are being met.

The Wärtsilä Expertise Centre in Dubai provides extensive support for the site team in ensuring uninterrupted power generation for the cement production facility. This support comprises round-the-clock remote guidance and technical support with augmented reality (AR) video streaming, operations surveillance, performance deviation alerting, remote troubleshooting, data analysis and asset diagnostics with advanced tools.

‘We are satisfied in the way that Wärtsilä have operated and maintained the power plant, which has allowed us to focus on producing cement with an uninterrupted supply of electricity,’ commented Fawaz Al Mutairi, chief executive officer of Umm AlQura Cement Co.

Haidar Al Hertani, managing director of Wärtsilä Saudi Arabia, said: ‘The turbocharged Wärtsilä 32 engine is optimized for reliable performance in extreme ambient conditions. It is designed to deliver outstanding efficiency with reduced fuel and water consumption in high altitudes and hot temperatures.’

Wärtsilä, who have been present in Saudi Arabia for more than 40 years and have more than 2,000MW of installed capacity in the country, are helping the industrial sector to thrive by providing reliable and efficient energy solutions to meet the targets of Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s ambitious long-term development plan for essential business sectors.