Bonneville Pacific Corp., the Salt Lake-based independent power producer, has completed an $8 million transaction that includes the granting of an option and first right of refusal to sell seven large engines and generators to a West German partnership.
The 16-cylinder engines, capable of producing seven megawatts of electricity each, are located in Green Valley, Ariz., site of a mothballed power plant purchased by Bonneville several years ago.If purchased by the West German company, the engines will be refurbished and converted to operate on either diesel fuel or natural gas before being shipped to the port of Rostock on the northern coast of East Germany.
The partnership has signed a letter of intent with an East German utility serving an area 80 miles southeast of Berlin to supply engines and development expertise for a 50-megawatt cogeneration power plant supplying electricity to the area.
BP officials said the refurbished equipment is critical to the needs of the utility, which must rapidly replace capacity lost by having to retire an old coal-fired plant in anticipation of more stringent air quality requirements in a unified Germany.