NEWS
New contracts and orders in industry
Poland’s PGNiG signs Texas LNG contract Irish-Spanish consortium to P oland’s Petroleum Mining and Gas Industry (PGNiG) has signed a 20-year deal to import two billion tonnes of liquid natural gas a year from Texas in the US, further strengthening the company’s gas resources. The state-owned company will import its gas from a terminal in Jefferson County, Texas. The agreement was made with Port Arthur LNG, a subsidiary company of Sempra LNG & Midstream and Venture Global LNG. The LNG supplies will reach Poland by 2023. Co-CEOs of Venture Global LNG, Mike Sabel and Bob Pender, commented that PGNiG will be collaborating with Venture Global’s current global partners Shell, Edison, Galp and BP in the Calcasieu Pass project. According to the terms of the agreement, PGNiG is also permitted to resell the gas on international
markets. Company director Piotr Woźniak hopes the contract “will allow further diversification of Polish gas resources.” In addition to the above, the Baltic Pipe, which will supply Poland with 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually and ease its dependence on Russia’s Gazprom, is due to be completed soon. Visit: www.pgnig.pl
ABB wins $40 million order for eco-efficient substation
A
BB has won an order of around $40 million from German transmission grid operator TransnetBW to upgrade a high-voltage substation in Obermooweiler, in the German state of BadenWuerttemberg. As an integral part of the upgrade, ABB will install the world’s first 380-kilovolt (kV) gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) which uses an environmentally friendly alternative gas mixture to the industry standard SF6.
Rolls-Royce signs $1.5bn agreement with China Eastern Airlines
UK
’s aero engine manufacturer RollsRoyce has announced the signing of a Trent XWB engine and long-term TotalCare® service agreement with China Eastern Airlines, involving the airline’s 20 Airbus A350-900 fleet and worth over CNY10 billion (over US$1.4bn).
18 Industry Europe
Substations enable the efficient and reliable transmission and distribution of electricity. Within the substation, switchgear controls and protects the network from power outages and facilitates reliable electricity supply. Due to its unique physical properties, SF6 gas has been used extensively in the electrical industry for decades. It is however, a greenhouse gas and ABB has been working on alternative solutions. In 2015, ABB successfully commissioned a substation using the AirPlusTM switchgear technology for a 170-kV GIS substation in Zurich, based on the alternative gas mixture. “With more than 30 years of technology partnership between ABB and TransnetBW, we are embarking on yet another innovation milestone,” said Claudio Facchin, President of ABB’s Power Grids division. “ABB’s eco-efficient GIS solution will lower environmental impact while strengthening the transmission grid.” Visit: www.abb.com China Eastern ordered 20 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft in 2016 to strengthen its widebody fleet for international routes and meet the needs of the fast-growing Chinese aviation market. Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines are already used in all China Eastern Airlines’ 59 Airbus A330 aircraft in service. Rolls-Royce also intends to secure a significant amount of business with a number
build new Dublin Airport runway
D
ublin’s airport operator daa has awarded the contract for the construction of Dublin Airport’s new North Runway to a consortium comprising Ireland’s Roadbridge and Spain’s FCC Construccíon. Described by daa chief executive as “the most important thing Ireland will build in a generation”, the runway will be 306m2 in length and comprise 6km of new internal airport roads. The terms of the contract also extend to the installation of new drainage and pollution controls, 7.5km of electrical cable and more than 2000 new runways and taxi lights. Construction will start in January 2019 with completion expected in early 2021. According to daa, the runway spells good news for Ireland’s economy as it is expected to support the creation of 31,200 new jobs and €2.2 billion in additional economic activity by 2043. To maximise local employment opportunities in the project, the Roadbridge-FCC consortium will be working closely with Fingal-based development company Empower and daa to fill as many positions as possible from within the local community. Visit: www.fccco.com
of Chinese companies across different sectors, representing UK manufacturing on a global scale and demonstrating the importance of international trade – particularly significant for the country’s manufacturing sector given the continuing uncertainty around exactly how Brexit will impact both trade and domestic production. Visit: www.rolls-royce.com