Power barge

A power barge is a power plant installed on a deck barge.

The type of power plants include; single or multiple gas turbines; reciprocating diesel engines; boilers or nuclear reactors. Power barges are also referred to as barge-mounted power plants or floating power plants.

They were initially developed during World War II by General Electric for the War Production Board as a transportable large scale power generation resource.

They primarily perform in a variety of applications such as base load, emergency and temporary power, transportable power or in power generation projects where local construction costs and risks run high. Power barges can also be permanently installed and will operate similarly to a land based plant for the same duration.

Power barges are in demand for their short construction cycles, flexibility in deployment, minimal land requirements and unique maritime financing. The capital costs of constructing and operating power barges are very competitive with their land-based equivalents.

During the 1990s, power barges became a popular way of providing energy to developing nations, with companies including Raytheon, Westinghouse, Smith Cogeneration, and Amfel built floating power plants for customers including Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, Kenya, and Malaysia, as well intermediaries such as the Power Barge Corporation.

Power barges are moored on one or more barges in safe harbors and “plugged into” land-based transformers that send electricity to domestic consumers. If the purchaser defaults, the manufacturer or intermediary can tow the barge(s) away and sell the plant to another customer. Floating power plants can also be assembled off-site and then towed to the purchasing nation. This lowers labor costs because the manufacturers do not have to pay their skilled workers to go to a distant site for a long time. One final incentive for floating power plants: an amendment to the 1936 U.S. Merchant Marine Act provides substantial financing advantages for vessels constructed in the United States but documented under the laws of another nation. Floating barges fit this description, and enjoy favorable financing.

[http://www.powerbargecorp.com/photos2.htm] This is a 105MW Westinghouse 501D5 gas turbine power barge with fuel barge loaded out for sea transport on a Dockwise heavy lift ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Nuclear_Power_Program includes a reference to the U.S. Army Nuclear Power Barge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_generation

www.energymin.gov.gh/osagyefo_barge.doc

http://www.atomicinsights.com/aug96/Conventional.html