Senoko begins works on LNG project

Ronnie Lim, Business Times 18 Dec 09;

SINGAPORE's largest generating company, Senoko Power, has just started construction of its earlier deferred $750 million re-powering project which will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the planned $1-1.5 billion LNG terminal on Jurong Island.

Senoko announced yesterday that a Japanese consortium, comprising Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Industries and Hitachi Asia, has started on-site works for the project to convert three, 30-year-old 250-megawatt oil-fired steam plants into two, 430 MW gas-fired combined cycle plants. 'The repowering project will help provide the critical mass for LNG off-take from the Singaporean government's LNG import terminal,' the genco said.

Senoko - now owned by Japanese-French group, Lion Power - had earlier deferred the project due to the economic downturn, which had hit electricity demand here. Another factor was the delay in development of the LNG terminal project - now taken over by the government. Singapore LNG Corporation, the new terminal developer, is scheduled to start construction of the project next month, once it finalises the choice of its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

Senoko, which currently uses about 230 million standard cubic feet of piped Malaysian and Indonesian gas daily will need another 60 mscfd (thousand standard cubic feet per day) once the repowering project is completed in the third quarter of 2012. This ties in with the LNG terminal development, the first phase of which is scheduled to start up in 2013.

Senoko Power's president and CEO, Brendan Wauters said: 'The start of the Stage 2 repowering project is a significant milestone. The replacement of carbon-intensive oil-fired plant by gas-fired plant underscores Senoko Power's focus on the use of environmentally friendly technologies in power generation.'