(Yicai Global) Sept. 14 -- A local unit under Norinco International, a state-owned construction firm, has penned a deal to build a 1,320 megawatt thermal power plant in Bangladesh.

The firm has green lit plans to pump more than USD152 million into the subsidiary, a joint venture with local partner Rural Power, the Chinese parent said in a statement on Sept. 12. The Bangladeshi firm will also top up its capital investment in the venture, named Bangladesh Rural Power-Norinco International Power, by the same amount so each shareholder retains a 50 percent stake.

The plant, based in Patuakhali in southern Bangladesh, will be ultra-supercritical, meaning it operates at around 43 percent efficiency by using higher boiler pressures and burning coal at higher temperatures.  It will include two sets of 660 megawatt generators and will produce some 8,580 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year once operational.

State-owned Rural Power and Norinco forecast total investment reaching over USD2.5 billion, with 30 percent coming from the firms and the remainder coming from bank loans.

Construction is set to last four years and the project will be built under a build, own, operate, or BOO, scheme with a 25 year concession, the statement added. It did not say when construction will begin.

Editor: James Boynton