Patrick Kron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alstom, and the Iraqi Vice Minister of Electricity, His Excellency Salam Kazzaz, signed on 11 December, in the presence of His Excellency Karim Aftan El Jumaily, Minister of Electricity, a contract worth approximately €400 million to build the 728 MW Al Mansuriya gas-fired power plant in the Diyala Governorate, northeast of Baghdad. The plant will consist of four units, based on Alstom’s GT13E2 gas turbine, and will be constructed under a turnkey contract, covering delivery of equipment and civil works.

The plant will add generation capacity to Iraq’s electricity network by providing enough electricity to the entire Diyala Governorate and a part of Baghdad, located 80 km away from the plant. The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be operational in early 2013. Equipment will be manufactured in Alstom’s factories in France, Switzerland and Germany. With more than 10 million operating hours accumulated worldwide, Alstom’s GT13E2 gas turbine has demonstrated superior operational performance and continues to provide reliable power to millions of consumers worldwide.

Commenting on the win, Mark Coxon, Senior Vice President of Alstom’s Gas business said:

“Alstom is proud to be participating in the reconstruction of Iraq’s energy infrastructure. I am positive that our superior gas turbine technology, offering outstanding availability and reliability, will support the country in building up secure electricity supplies for the future.“

In July 2010, Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom, and the Ministry of Electricity, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development and modernisation of Iraq’s electricity infrastructure. Under this MoU, Alstom is currently rehabilitating unit 1 of the Najaf gas-fired power station, 160 km south of Baghdad. The unit was out of operation for five years; the rehabilitation will allow the first turbine, recontribute again an output of 60 MW to the Iraqi electricity network.

AFP reports that the Iraqi cabinet has approved a $540 million contract for French firm Alstom to build a 182.4 megawatt gas power plant in central Iraq.

Ggovernment spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that the plant, which should be up and running 18 months after the signature of the contract, is to be built in Mansuriya in the Diyala province, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of the capital.

The cabinet chose Alstom over the Iranian company company Mabna “because the offer was more attractive and less expensive,” he said.

Alstom has already been selected to refurbish a gas power plant in the central province of Najaf.

(Source: AFP)

French engineering group Alstom has been awarded a contract to build an electrical power plant worth $550 million in Iraq, reports Reuters.

The award of the Mansuriyah plant contract was announced as part of a visit to Iraq by French Trade Minister Pierre Lellouche.

“The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister confirmed … the award of the Mansuriyah electrical power plant contract to Alstom for a total value of $550 million,” a statement from Lellouche’s office said.

Oil services group Technip will also sign two agreements relating to Iraqi oil fields on Wednesday, the statement said.

Alstom is already taking part in other projects in Iraq such as the Nineveh power plant and the Baghdad metro.

(Source: Reuters)

The Mayor of Baghdad, Sabir al-Issawi, met representatives of the French company Sistra [Systra] to discuss the studies and designs for the Baghdad Metro Project, a Mayoralty statement reported on Wednesday, according to Aswat al-Iraq.

“The Mayoralty’s Designs Department had prepared over the past few months the detailed dossiers about the transportation problems in Baghdad, for which the Company was supplied necessary documents from Baghdad Mayoralty, the Ministries of Transport and Planning, as well as other ministries,” the statement added.

Reuters reported in January that France’s Alstom would lead the Baghdad Metro Project, while AKnews reported in July that the project had been suspended.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

A technical committee at the Iraqi Electricity Ministry is studying the offers by international companies to set up power grids in seven Iraqi provinces, according to AKnews.

A Ministry spokesman, Musab al-Mudarres, told the agency that the Ministry has began studying eight offers from international companies which hope to establish power grids in Babel, Kirkuk, Nineveh, Anbar, Najaf, Wasit, and Basra provinces.

Currently Iraq owns only two power grids, the Rusafa and Karkh.

The bidding companies include among others the U.S. General Electric (GE), French Alstom and Marseille, and Malaysian Ridgestone Discovery.

The installation of facilities should take only 24 months,’ Ministry spokesman added.

(Source: AKnews)

Iraqi’s Ministry of Electricity signed a contract on Saturday with French conglomerate Alstom to build a power generation plant in Nineveh province at a cost of approximately $94 million, according to AKnews.

The Ministry said the plant will begin generating by the end of 2012.

Reuters reportst that the deal requires Iraq to pay 10 percent of the cost to Alstom in advance, and 40 percent a year after the start of construction. There were no details on when the rest of the cost would be paid.

(Sources: AKnews, Reuters)

Alstom Grid has been awarded a €80 million contract from Calik Energy [Calik Enerji], a leading Turkish energy company, for the supply of electrical transmission equipment to be installed in two power plants being built in Iraq by Calik Energy. This contract is considered the largest one to date for Alstom Grid in Iraq.

The contract, which includes the supply of GIS substations and power transformers, has been signed within the framework of the Ministry of Electricity’s “Mega Deal ” project to add more than 10,000 MW of power generation capacity in the country. The natural gas/ fuel oil power plants are critical to meeting Iraq’s growing demand for energy during the period of reconstruction and rebuilding.

Upon completion, the substations and related equipments supplied by Alstom Grid to transmit electricity from the Al-Khairat and Nainawa [Ninewa, Ninawa] gas-fired power plants will contribute to develop the region by transmitting an additional 2000 MW of new generation capacity through the grid. Project commissioning is scheduled for June 2012 with a second phase planned in October 2012.

Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom, said:

“Iraq is one of the most dynamic countries in the region with major construction plans in infrastructure, oil & gas and utilities. Alstom is proud to support Iraq’s economic development and intends to enhance its strategic partnerships, by bringing expertise close to the customer. This prestigious project demonstrates Alstom’s ability to respond to ever-greater needs with customer-valued solutions.“

A project to build a 22km urban rail network in the Iraqi capital has been put on hold due to a lack of funds, an advisor to the Transport Ministry said on Tuesday.

Karim Nouri told AKnews that the cost of the project exceeds this year’s federal budget allocation.

The 14-station metro line was intended to link the northern districts of Baghdad to the center and transport up to 30,000 passengers per hour.

At the end of May, Baghdad provincial council announced that the $1.5 billion project, to be carried out by the French firm Alstom, would take five years to complete and be partly-funded by the French government.

Mr. Nouri did not say when or if work on the planned urban rail link might begin.

(Source: AKnews)