Dual-fuel Orders from Australia and Brazil

Augsburg-based large engine manufacturer MAN Diesel has won two orders for its dual-fuel 51/60 DF engine in the power plant sector. These dual-fuel engines, which can be operated both with gas and with liquid fuel, are being sent to Brazil and Australia. The 51/60DF was originally developed for use on liquid gas tankers, where vaporised gas from the loading tanks can simultaneously be used to drive the engine. The 51/60DF is now also increasingly conquering the power plant sector, where it is primarily operated with gas.

MAN Diesel’s rapid delivery played a key role in the company’s being awarded the order. One motor is going to Manaus, in Brazil, to replace a conventional power plant engine that has had to be replaced due to a fault. It will be used in a base-load power plant, which generates electricity round the clock for the city of two million inhabitants in Brazil’s rainforest. “Our customer, the independent energy producer Breitener, was faced with the question of repairing or replacing the faulty motor. Given the fact that the power plant is to be switched over to gas power in the medium term for environmental reasons anyway, the decision in favour of the 51/60DF was self-evident,” explains Dr. Tilman Tütken, Vice President Sales Europe & Brazil in the Power Plants Business Unit. The customer was also impressed by MAN Diesel’s excellent service portfolio. In the autumn of 2008, MAN Diesel PrimeServ, MAN Diesel’s aftersales organisation, set up a service office in Manaus.

The quality and flexibility of the 51/60DF is also in demand in the Australian Outback. The first natural gas power plant to be operated exclusively with dual-fuel motors from MAN Diesel is being built in Owen Springs. Originally, only two 51/60DF engines were to supply Alice Springs, a mere 25 kilometres away, however the order has now been increased to three motors. The power plant’s energy output will consequently rise from an initial 22 MW to 33 MW. Niel Halvorsen, General Manager Projects at MAN Diesel Australia, sees benefits in the motors’ environmentally friendly operation: “The power plant in Owen Springs can produce energy with superlative efficiency – thanks to our engines – and keep its emissions low.” The customer is the Power and Water Corporation of Australia’s Northern Territory. The first two generators will come on stream by August 2010, with the third unit soon after, in October 2010.

When used in power plants, the 51/60DF is primarily operated with gas. Its flexibility as regards other fuels, however, is one of the key buying arguments for customers. In the event of problems with the gas infrastructure, the engine can be easily switched over to another fuel. This is why power plant operators often give dual-fuel engines preference over a purely gas-powered engine.