A contract for the supply and construction of what is being called the
world's first barge mounted circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) boiler electrical generating facility has been awarded to Waller Marine Inc., Houston, TX. The nominal 100 MW coal fired power plant will be installed at Pickwick, Tennessee under a contract with Pickwick Power LLC, who will be supplying power into the
Tennessee Valley Authority system.
The Waller designed barge mounted power plant will be constructed under supervision to ABS classification in a shipyard located in China using Chinese CFBC technology. Comprised of two barges, the steam barge and the turbine barge, the entire plant, with the exception of coal and limestone storage and material handling facilities will be integrated into the vessels and transported by submersible ships to Mobile, Alabama. Returned to the water at Mobile, the barges will be towed up the Tombigbee Waterway for installation at Pickwick. Waller will act as EPC contractor for the entire project, including the U.S. civil component. The project is expected to reach commercial operation in June 2004.
Waller Marine has extensive experience in the design and construction of barge mounted power plants. The company recently delivered two, 30 MW power barges to Lagos Nigeria, which were designed and constructed under an EPC turnkey contract for Enron Equipment. WMI also designed the worlds largest power barge, a 220 MW combined cycle floating power plant constructed by Hyundai Engineering and installed at Mangalore, India in 2001. The company is presently designing two barge mounted combined cycle power plants for future installation in the New York City area.