Wärtsilä to switch EGE Haina’s plant to natural gas operation

The Finnish technology group Wärtsilä and Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Haina (EGE Haina), have signed a commissioning agreement that converts the Quisqueya 2 power plant to natural gas operation.

The 215 MW Flexicycle plant was installed in 2013, and is powered by 12 Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines. The engines have been liquid-optimized until now as only heavy fuel oil (HFO) has been available.

As natural gas is soon to become available, and with the execution of this conversion project, the plant will be re-commissioned to run on gas, Wärtsilä said in its statement.

Quisqueya 2 is a flexible baseload plant operating under a power purchase agreement (PPA), whereby the utility agrees to supply electricity to the national grid.

The project is expected to be completed by mid-2020.

The two companies have also signed a long-term service agreement covering all the Wärtsilä power plants owned and/or operated by EGE Haina.

The agreement was signed in October 2019 and runs until the end of 2022. It will allow accurate predictability of spare parts and maintenance costs for the Quisqueya 2, Sultana del Este, and Palenque power plants. The total installed capacity of the three plants is approximately 400 MW.