MAN Diesel awarded contract in Brazil

08/02/2010

MAN Diesel, the Augsburg-based manufacturer of large-bore diesel engines, is very successfully expanding its power plants business even in difficult economic times. Grupo Bertin – a large international conglomerate from Brazil – awarded MAN Diesel a contract to supply the electro-mechanical equipment for six diesel power plants. These components include 120 large-bore diesel engines and generators, which together will form the heart of the plants. The order volume for MAN Diesel comes to around Euro 300 million. Grupo Bertin is also the largest truck customer of MAN Latin America, MAN Group’s South American division for commercial vehicles.

MAN Diesel will supply GenSets, comprising large-bore diesel engines of type 18V32/40, complete with associated generators, along with other power plant components. All in all, the six diesel power plants will generate over 1000 MW of electricity, making a considerable contribution towards ensuring a constant supply of energy for this South American country. The power plants will be built close to the city of Salvador in the state of Bahia, and will go on grid in 2011.

Dr. Georg Pachta-Reyhofen, Chief Executive Officer of MAN SE, sees this as an affirmation of the company’s power plant strategy: “Time and again, our decision to develop the power plant business into a second strategic segment of MAN Diesel alongside the established marine segment is being proved right. This project further increases the significance of Latin America as a market for MAN Diesel, and for the strategic orientation of the MAN Group as a whole.”

Klaus Stahlmann, Chief Executive Officer of MAN Diesel SE evaluated the successful sale as follows: “A contract of this size is very good news, and in the context of the current global financial crisis extremely important for securing further capacity utilisation and therefore the employment situation at our Augsburg plant. Our long-term investment in the modernisation of our production network is now paying off.”

Furthermore, the acceptance of the bid for this project, which is also very attractive with regard to its high capacity utilisation, opens up the possibility of follow-up orders for MAN Diesel, for example the construction of further power plants for Grupo Bertin. The possibility of fitting power plants with MAN Turbo steam turbines is also being considered. These can be run on the waste heat from the engines and therefore tangibly boost the overall level of efficiency still further. The merged company MAN Diesel & Turbo could then bring to the project its amalgamated skills for diesel combined cycle power plants.

MAN Diesel SE, Press Release