In March 2020, Ansaldo Energia and Iren spa, through its subsidiary Iren Energia spa, signed a contract for construction of a new gas-fuelled combined cycle power plant involving an investment of about 180 million euro to increase the installed capacity of the Turbigo site, in the province of Milan, bringing the power of the electrical power plant up from the current 850 MW to about 1,280 MW, all fuelled with natural gas. The 430 MW increase in capacity obtained a payment on the Capacity Market auction: a total of about 105 million euro distributed over 15 years, beginning in 2022 (about 7 million euro/year) for the new gas turbine section, as "new authorised capacity"; a total of about 12 million euro, about 6 million euro per year in the years 2022 and 2023, for the existing steam turbine as "existing capacity" which is no longer in use but will be reactivated under the repowering project.
The new combined cycle, with a yield of 57%, will be able to achieve its first parallel by il 31/03/2022, while the completion of trial operation and testing is scheduled for 30/06/2022.
Ansaldo Energia will be in charge of executive design, supply of the AE94.3A gas turbine, generators and step-up transformers, the recovery steam generator, civil construction works, and supply and assembly of electrical and mechanical auxiliary equipment.
Iren will integrate the project with the existing plant to achieve maximum overall flexibility in production, renew a number of components of the existing production plant which have been in service since 2008 to further improve performance, and renew connections with the national electricity grid.
