Mitsubishi Power, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), announced on Tuesday that it has completed the refurbishment of Unit 1 at the Hartha Thermal Power Station in Basra, Iraq.

The project involves the restoration of Unit 1’s gas and oil-fired steam turbine equipment to its original output rated at 200 megawatts (MW), the company said in a press statement.

The nearly 40-year-old Hartha Thermal Power Station, operated by the Ministry of Electricity (MOE), accounts for approximately 25 percent of Basra province's power generation capacity, and features original power generation equipment supplied by Mitsubishi Power. 

The plant was operating at a reduced capacity of 60 percent due to partial damage during successive conflicts in the region as well as gradual degradation.

The company said the refurbishment work, ordered in 2017, called for the replacement of core components of the plant's degraded power generation facilities (gas and oil-fired boilers and steam turbines) to restore its original output.

Prior to that, the company had completed the refurbishment of Unit 4 in December 2017 after receiving the order in March 2015.

Funding for the Unit 1 project, similarly to the Unit 4 project, was provided by Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The refurbishment work was carried out by a consortium led by Mitsubishi Power, which replaced the main equipment and parts of core components such as boilers and steam turbines while Turkish engineering company GAMA Power System Engineering & Construction handled local transportation and installation work, the statement said.

Mitsubishi Power has also carried out refurbishment work for MOE’s Taji, Al-Musaib and Mosul thermal power plants.

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Bhaskar Raj)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)