Operations and Maintenance Contracts for Wärtsilä in Brazil

Wärtsilä has signed three important operations and maintenance (O&M) agreements during the past months for power plants in Brazil.

"Wärtsilä has been operating power plants in Brazil for many years and these orders shows that the customers and the market has confidence in us as an O&M provider and appreciate the added value we bring," says Tomas Hakala, president, Wärtsilä in Latin America.

Manaus Energia SA, a subsidiary of Eletronorte, has placed an O&M order with Wärtsilä for its 158 MW Bloco 4 do Complexo Termelétrico de Mauá plant in Manaus, Brazil. Wärtsilä built the power plant in 1998, which is equipped with ten Wärtsilä 18V46 generating sets running on heavy fuel oil (HFO). On January 16th 2008 the Power Purchase Agreement came to the end of its term and the facility was handed over by the Independent Power Producer to Manaus Energia, a subsidiary of the Brazilian federal electric utility. Simultaneously Wärtsilä commenced the operation of the facility.

The current O&M agreement, which covers full operations and maintenance, has a term of one year during which all the engines will have their major overhauls done. Wärtsilä was able to assume the operation of this 158 MW plant in just 35 days after signing the O&M agreement - an exceptional performance given the size and location of the plant. The work involved in the O&M agreement for this plant is managed from the new Manaus workshop that was inaugurated on 8th of April. The new workshop is serving the growing number of customers in the Amazon region