Sharjah Hamriyah Independent Power Company (SHIPCO) and GE celebrated the ‘First Fire’ of a gas turbine at the upcoming 1.8 gigawatts (GW) Hamriyah Independent Power Plant.

Omar Almulla, Chairman of SHIPCO; Chuck Nugent, President and CEO of Heavy Duty Gas Turbine Equipment at GE Gas Power; Mohamad Ali, Senior Executive Director for Projects at GE Gas Power Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and other high-ranking executives were present at the occasion.

First fire is a critical test where a turbine is switched on and operated on fuel at the site and it follows several months of installation and commissioning works. Almost all the civil works, up to 85 per cent of the procurement, and up to 70 per cent of construction and commissioning works at the Hamriyah project have already been executed.

Co-developers GE Energy Financial Services and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation signed an approximately 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SEWA in 2018 to develop, build and operate the plant. Following financial close in 2019, co-developers along with Shikoku Electric Power Company and Sharjah Asset Management, formed a joint venture company - SHIPCO - to build, own and operate the project, which is the first independent combined cycle power plant in Sharjah. GE is supplying three HA gas turbines, six generators, three heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) and turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the facility.

Mohamad Ali, Senior Executive Director for Projects at GE Gas Power EMEA said, “On behalf of GE, I would like to thank all the individuals involved in helping us achieve the critical milestone of first fire of the first gas turbine at the Hamriyah IPP. This flagship project is anticipated to generate almost 40 per cent of the emirate’s power once complete, playing an essential role in helping Sharjah achieve energy independence.”