An FPP is basically a power station mounted on a barge, and FPPs are generally constructed by shipbuilders. FPPs can be built very quickly. If the necessary power generation plant is available, a 100-MW unit could be assembled (the barge designed and built, the generation plant installed) and delivered to the required location, in six months,The power barge is much like a ship transiting the oceans of the world; it is a legal entity, with a flag, state and a home port compliant with international regulations and operating under maritime law. Under these circumstances, financial institutions felt assured that the asset could be retrieved should the state utility not
meet it's obligations.
The 220 MW combined cycle unit is fitted with four LM 6000 turbine generator packages, with chilled inlet air, each with a "Once Thru" heat recovery steam generator and a 55 MW steam plant.
Financial issues aside, FPPs could be delivered quickly to meet the urgent need for capacity. Assuming the availability of prime movers, generators and other equipment, a 100 MW barge could be delivered to site in less than 6 months. Site work can be accomplished simultaneously with the construction of the barge in a shipyard where greater control and efficiency of the installation of machinery and equipment is possible than at a remote green field site.
There are reported to be more than 50 FPPs in use around the world. The biggest is a 220-MW unit at Mangalore in south-west India. Built in South Korea, it is moored in a lagoon, and its design allows this FPP to rise vertically by about 5 m to cope with the dramatic increase in the water level during the monsoon season. And a 520-MW FPP is planned for New York City, which has no affordable land available for a new power station, but plenty of
water on which to float one.
Another Type of Floating Power Generation
Russia, China to start building floating nuclear plant
28 July 2005
Russia and China have reportedly signed an $86.5 million contract for the construction of the world's first floating nuclear power plant. China will receive the money in exchange for building a barge to host two portable reactors.
According to Vladimir Uryvsky, deputy department head at the Federal Nuclear Energy Agency, China will build a 20,000t, 175m-long barge and Russia will be responsible for two KLT-40S reactors, derived from those used on icebreakers. Together the two units will produce 70MWe and the project will cost a total of $209 million, £30 million of which has already been spent on design work.
The plant, which is expected to be sited in Severodvinsk in the northern Arkhangelsk region, is to supply electricity and heat to the Sevmash defence complex.
Expected to resemble a 140m by 30m floating building with a displacement of 21000 tonnes, construction is due to begin next year and end in 2011.
