Israel Electric Corporation's (IEC) senior tenders committee gave its approval at the end of last week to conduct negotiations with Siemens (NYSE:SI) for conversion of IEC's Gezer production plants to natural gas.
The project will include conversion of the four turbines at the Gezer site from diesel fuel to natural gas, upgrading the control system, and emission rate reduction. The contract value is in the tens of millions of dollars.
IEC will award the contract without a bid for tender. Company management notified the board of directors that a tender was unnecessary, as this was the continuation of a relationship with the plant's original equipment supplier.
IEC president and CEO Jacob Razon said that the Gezer power plant's full conversion to natural gas was expected by 2006. IEC is in the process of converting power plants to natural gas, so that when gas becomes available, the system will be ready to use it.
Razon expressed his hope that the Israel National Gas Company would indeed meet the timetable set for the pipeline project.
There are four turbines operating at the Gezer facility currently operating on diesel fuel, and producing 600 megawatt (MW). Upon conversion to natural gas, their output will increase by 10%.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on Sunday, June 06, 2004