Jordan building world’s largest internal combustion power plant

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for an electricity generation mega-project.

Implemented by the Amman-Asia Electric Power Company, the multi-fuel run electricity plant, coded IPP3, will have the production capacity of 573MW, making it the largest internal combustion power plant in the world, which has an entry in Guinness Book of Records, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The project, located in the Manakher area in east of Amman, will provide around 15 per cent of additional electric power to the Kingdom's electricity grid.

The station is implemented as a joint venture between a consortium of the Korea Electric Power Corp., Mitsubishi Corporation and the Finnish power company, Wärtsilä, in cooperation with local task groups from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the National Electric Power Company and the Jordan Water Authority, according to Petra.

According to a statement from Wärtsilä e-mailed to The Jordan Times, IPP3, will be used for covering the sharp daily peaks of electricity demand in Jordan. Fast starting and the capability of ramping output up and down quickly and efficiently are key features of ICE technology. 

“By starting one engine at a time, the plant can follow the demand very precisely.”  

In addition to operational flexibility, IPP3 provides fuel flexibility, the company said, adding that the tri-fuel plant can run on heavy fuel oil (HFO), light fuel oil and natural gas. Currently HFO is used due to shortage of natural gas, the Wärtsilä statement said, adding that the plant will start to use LNG-based natural gas later this year, “as soon as it becomes available”.