Alba Power Expansion Project achieves First Fire Milestone

Manama, Oct. 30 (BNA): Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) is proud to announce that it has successfully conducted the First Fire of the First H-class General Electric (GE) 9HA Gas Turbine (GT) GE Unit 1 at Power Station 5 (PS 5), today, Tuesday, 30 October 2018. The First Fire of the GT is a significant milestone towards the completion of the Power Expansion Project and a step closer to achieving the First Hot Metal on 1st January 2019, said the Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa during a celebration held today to commemorate this milestone. Adding further, Shaikh Daij said: "The best way to foresee our sustainable future is to plan it. By adopting GE’s cutting-edge technology, Alba is setting the benchmark for sustainable power generation in the aluminium industry with the Power Expansion Project. We are proud that PS 5, once fully operational, will be one of the most efficient combined cycle power plants in the world. I am particularly proud for achieving the First Fire safely and would like to commend the teams from PS 5 - Alba, ESBI, GE-GAMA and contractors for their strong commitment to Safety."  The celebration was attended by Alba’s Chairman of Board of Directors Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray, Deputy CEO Ali Al Baqali, Chief Power Officer Amin Sultan, Alba Executive Management along with the President & CEO of GE’s Power Services in Africa, South Asia and MEA Joseph Anis as well as CEO of GAMA Ahmet Ligvani.  "GE is honored to support Alba’s vision to expand its position as a leading smelter in the Gulf region and beyond. The first fire of a GE HA gas turbine at Alba’s Power Station 5 marks a critical milestone in the journey towards powering the world’s largest smelter. The technology has helped deliver two world records for efficiency and will help Alba to deliver exceptionally low life cycle costs per megawatt as well as to reduce the environmental footprint of its activities," said Joseph Anis, President & CEO of GE’s Power Services business in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. "As Alba targets the First Hot Metal date of 1st January 2019 from Line 6, GE is committed to ensuring that Power Station 5 supplies efficient, reliable electricity to support that goal."  Alba’s PS 5 is a 1,792 megawatts (MW) Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant with an efficiency of 54%. GE and GAMA Consortium is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor PS 5 wherein GE will provide three 9HA gas turbines, three steam turbines and three heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) for PS 5.