Cheaper electricity for islanders: Mitsubishi Heavy tests waters with floating LNG power plants

Cheaper electricity for islanders: Mitsubishi Heavy tests waters with floating LNG power plants

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is seeking orders for forthcoming power generation ships that will use liquefied natural gas, hoping to capture demand from countries with extensive island territory.

     The vessels will have onboard gasification facilities, storage tanks and turbines. Operating in ports, they will get their LNG from carriers positioned alongside.

     After recently completing the initial design, the company began marketing the generator ships in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

     One vessel can generate 250,000kW, the equivalent of a quarter the capacity of a nuclear power plant. It can meet the electricity needs of about 150,000 people. And it eliminates certain preliminary steps required to build an onshore power plant, such as conducting environmental assessments and acquiring land.

     The company expects the ships to be priced at 40 billion yen to 48 billion yen ($331 million to 397 million). But the initial cost could come down to “almost equivalent to that of a land-based power plant if the number of orders rises,” a staffer said.

     Island power lines are frequently separate from the grids on the mainland, making electricity fairly pricey in the many regions that use small-scale diesel generation facilities instead.

     Introducing the LNG-based generator ships could lower utility charges to two-thirds those of conventional methods on remote islands, according to the company.

     A growing number of power plants have been built offshore, including those tapping the wind. But the new Mitsubishi Heavy ships are believed to be the first in the world featuring full fossil-fuel power generation facilities.

     The Japanese company has been competing fiercely with General Electric and Siemens in power generation systems. But the two Western rivals lack technologies for designing hulls and navigation equipment. Mitsubishi Heavy hopes to stand out by cultivating demand for offshore generation, tapping its rich know-how in merchant ship operations.

(Nikkei)

Cheaper electricity for islanders: Mitsubishi Heavy tests waters with floating LNG power plants