Emal takes first delivery of GE equipment

Dubai: The Emirates Aluminium (Emal) smelter currently under construction in Abu Dhabi has successfully received the first delivery of General Electric (GE) equipment at the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) dock in Al Taweelah.

The delivery of two 75-tonne combustion turbine exhaust gas diverters is the next step in achieving hot metal production in 2010 and when the power plant is complete, it will be one of the largest single-site combined cycle power plants in the world.

The dock in Al Taweelah was specially constructed for the Emal complex by ADPC for the offloading of heavy and oversized equipment without the use of cranes.

The dock will receive more deliveries in the next few months, including 280 tonne combustion turbines and 220 tonne generators, as well as steam turbine equipment.

"This first successful delivery of equipment to the construction dock in Al Taweelah gives us confidence that all future deliveries to the Emal smelter will be well supported by ADPC's port facilities." said Duncan Hedditch, Emal CEO.

The diverters were manufactured in Bahrain and are used to direct the flow of exhaust gases from the combustion turbines. Once complete, the power plant will generate enough electricity for the planned production output of 700,000 tonnes of aluminium per annum.

Emal's six-square kilometre production facility in Taweelah, Abu Dhabi, is currently being built in two phases and is set to become the world's fifth largest aluminium producer.

Phase One, currently on schedule to be completed by 2010, will have a production output of 700,000 tonnes.

At full capacity, it will boast an output of 1.4 million tonnes of primary aluminium for the world's manufacturing, packaging and construction sectors.