IPSA Group, the South Africa focused power plant developer, announced that it may dispose of four Fiat Avio 501D gas turbines that it initially acquired for the development of the Coega Power Plant Project near Port Elizabeth.
IPSA said it had been approached by a number of potential buyers, and confirmed that discussions were at an advanced stage for the sale of the four turbines at a price in excess of US$100 million. IPSA paid approximately $60 million for the turbines.
The company is considering the disposal as it is unlikely the Coega plant will be developed along the original timeline envisaged by the company. The first phase of the Coega plant was initially planned to enter service in mid-2009. IPSA also confirmed that it had entered into negotiations for the delivery of new turbines for Coega to ensure it could proceed with the development once certain constitutional changes are completed by the South Africa Government to allow the development.
"The overall plan for IPSA to develop, construct and own 1,600 MW of CCGT capacity at Coega remains unchanged. Furthermore, IPSA remains committed to developing new power capacity in southern Africa," the company stated.
IPSA recently announced an increase in the size of the planned coal-fired power plant in the Eastern Cape from 500 MW of mine mouth capacity to some 1,000 MW of capacity spread over a number of sites.