May 12 - Two industrial gas turbines, manufactured by Siemens, are being transported 16,000 km from Sweden to the Termoeléctrica del Sur power plant in Bolivia.
These are the first two Siemens gas turbines as part of an ongoing project for the expansion of three power plants in Bolivia, following an agreement signed with Ende Andina in May 2016, to increase the power generating capacity of the country by more than 1 GW.
According to Siemens, the transport will include up to 400 special transports, with heavy loads travelling over the Andes Mountains.
The first two machines, weighing 170 tons (154.2 tonnes) in total, were loaded onto a heavy lift vessel in the harbour of Norrköping, Sweden for transportation to the Port of Arica in Chile.
After landing at the Port of Arica, the cargo will be loaded onto a truck to travel the remaining 1,800 km to the construction site at Termoeléctrica del Sur, an overland route crossing the Andes at a height of 4,680 m.
The road network, rough terrain and extreme weather conditions are the main challenges for the overland transports, says Siemens.
The two gas turbines will be installed to drive the electrical generators and produce steam to drive the steam turbine, thus increasing the efficiency of the power plant by more than 50 percent.
Siemens will supply 14 industrial gas turbines, 11 steam turbines and further power plant equipment to expand the Termoeléctrica del Sur, Termoeléctrica de Warnes and Termoeléctrica Entre Rios plants for combined cycle operation.
According to Siemens, in cooperation with its Spanish consortium partner TSK, it will increase the installed power generating capacity of Bolivia's National Interconnected System by 66 percent.
