New Wärtsilä-supplied power plants will accommodate broad range of operating profiles for US utility

Wärtsilä Corporation, Press release, 13 November 2017 at 11 a.m. EET

The technology group Wärtsilä has received full notice to proceed with the delivery of the engines for two new power plants being built by an investor owned utility in the USA. The order was originally announced in June 2017.

The plants are owned by Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation (UMERC), a subsidiary of WEC Energy Group one of the USA's leading energy companies. The selection of the Wärtsilä smart power generation solution was made in order to accommodate a broad range of operating profiles for which flexibility is a prime requirement. The letter of intent was signed, and the order booked with Wärtsilä in May 2017, while the full notice to proceed was given in November.

The two power plants, located in the Negaunee and Baraga townships in Michigan, will have a combined output of 188 MW provided by a total of ten Wärtsilä 50SG engines running on Natural Gas fuel. The plants will serve some 40,000 residential consumers as well as a large mining operation, which creates various generation and balancing needs in the region. The fast starting and responsive flexibility of the Wärtsilä solution was, therefore, cited as being an important consideration in the award of this contract. Furthermore, by operating on clean burning natural gas, the environmental impact of the two new plants will be minimized.

The Wärtsilä plants will replace an existing coal-fired power plant and are expected to provide baseload and intermittent power. Their ability to react rapidly to the fluctuating demand from the local operations was a critical factor for UMERC.

"Wärtsilä's Smart Power Generation solution will enable efficiency to be maintained across a broad range of output. It requires very limited use of water for cooling and the environmental footprint is small, plus the modularized solution means that additional capacity can easily be accommodated if needed," said Mikael Backman, Regional Director, US & Canada, Wärtsilä Energy Solutions.

The Wärtsilä engines are scheduled for delivery in the latter half of 2018 and the plants are expected to come on line in 2019.

Wärtsilä currently has an installed base of more than 3000 MW in the USA, while its global installed base exceeds 65 GW in 177 countries.

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Caption: The two power plants, located in the Negaunee and Baraga townships in Michigan, will have a combined output of 188 MW provided by a total of ten Wärtsilä 50SG engines running on natural gas fuel.

For more information, please contact:

Mikael Backman
Regional Director, US & Canada
Wärtsilä Energy Solutions
Tel: +1 281-224-2920
mikael.backman@wartsila.com

Joshua Klopp
Business Development Manager, USA & Canada
Wärtsilä Energy Solutions
Tel: +1 612 -817-0631
joshua.klopp@wartsila.com

Tyler Murphy
Marketing Manager, Americas
Wärtsilä Energy Solutions
Tel: +1 832 922 7197
tyler.murphy@wartsila.com  

Wärtsilä Energy Solutions in brief
Wärtsilä Energy Solutions is a leading global energy system integrator offering a broad range of environmentally sound solutions. Our offering includes ultra-flexible internal combustion engine based power plants, utility-scale solar PV power plants, energy storage & integration solutions, as well as LNG terminals and distribution systems. The flexible and efficient Wärtsilä solutions provide customers with superior value and enable a transition to a more sustainable and modern energy system. As of 2017, Wärtsilä has 65 GW of installed power plant capacity in 177 countries around the world.
www.smartpowergeneration.com

Wärtsilä in brief
Wärtsilä is a global leader in advanced technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasizing sustainable innovation and total efficiency, Wärtsilä maximizes the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2016, Wärtsilä's net sales totaled EUR 4.8 billion with approximately 18,000 employees. The company has operations in over 200 locations in more than 70 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
www.wartsila.com