Supporting Malaysia’s transition to a lower-carbon energy future
At Jacobs, planning beyond today for a sustainable future for everyone through our PlanBeyond approach is at the heart of our business. As an owner's engineer to Edra Energy for Project Melaka, Malaysia's largest CCGT power plant, we’re delighted to help shape a crucial milestone in the country's decarbonization journey.
Steam coming out of the vents on the roof of the turbine building, indicating that the gas turbine and steam turbine are in operation.*
North view of the power plant – the 500 kilovolt (kV) Switchyard (SWYD) and the SWYD control building at the bottom of the photo, the balance of plant area on the right and three power blocks in the middle.**
South view of the power plant – power block area in the center, the admin building and seal pit at the bottom, BOP area on the left, fuel gas metering on the right, the 500kV SWYD in the middle and the contractor's laydown area at the top.**
*Photos courtesy of Mishan Aravind, Project Engineer, Jacobs.
** Photo courtesy of Edra Energy Sdn Bhd.
Developing Malaysia's largest CCGT power plant
The Melaka power plant is equipped with three single-shaft units and has the capacity to generate approximately 747MW per unit. Each single-shaft unit includes GE's 9HA.02 gas turbine that produces the highest output (MW) possible as these “H” class models are known to be some of the largest turbine models equipped with advanced technologies. In addition, each shaft has a steam turbine, an electrical generator, and a heat recovery steam generator operating in a combined cycle.
As the owner’s engineer, our team had a full-time presence on the site, including our experienced project, quality and health, safety, and environment (HSE) managers, and a team of senior resident engineers and inspectors. Our team carried out engineering design review, procurement monitoring (attendance of factory inspection testing for major equipment), site construction supervision including HSE management and testing and commissioning supervision on the project.
Celebrating our BeyondZero® approach
On-site, our team wrestled warm, humid and dusty conditions. But with our BeyondZero approach anchored in our vision that work must be healthy, safe and secure for our people and our planet, we clocked 13.3 million person-hours without any lost time injuries. In delivering this project, we continue to live our BeyondZero® promise, prioritizing our people's health, safety and security and protecting the environment.
"At Jacobs, we believe the wellbeing of our people is fundamental to our success,” says Jacobs Senior Director of Operations and Sales, Energy & Power, Middle East (Former Jacobs Asia Energy & Power Sector Lead) Steve Vincent.“As an owner’s engineer for this project, ensuring our team’s safety continued to be our top priority while we worked with Edra Energy and the local authorities to deliver project milestones."
Did you know?
To set up the platform level, we moved over 1 million cubic meters of soil during Limited Notice to Proceed (LNTP) – a phase where early site clearing, and preparation is carried out.
Cooling water intake pump station with the electrochlorination building on the left. On the far left, the road that had to be rerouted and rebuilt in order to install the cooling water pipes underground.**
Inside the turbine building unit 1, the gas turbine enclosure on the right and the stairway to the generator and the steam turbine area.*
Screen in the central control room showing Units 1, 2 and 3 producing over 720MW of electricity at each unit.*
*Photos courtesy of Mishan Aravind, Project Engineer, Jacobs.
** Photo courtesy of Edra Energy Sdn Bhd.
Project milestones
- Achieving early back energization by completing the 500kV switchyard three months before handing it over to the off-taker - Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
- Commencing operation of three units of the plant, with the first unit entering commercial operation on December 16, 2021, followed by Unit 2 on January 31, 2022 and Unit 3 on February 28, 2022.
Boosting socio-economic development of the region
All three units of the plant are now connected to the grid and are producing approximately 2,242MW, helping fulfill 10% of the nation’s electricity demand.
It hasn’t just expanded Malaysia’s power generation capacity but also created a positive impact on the community by helping to:
- Enhance local economic activity.
- Kickstart new employment avenues.
- Open new contracting opportunities.
- Attract new industrial development investments.