(Reuters) - Germany's Siemens has won a deal worth around 260 million euros ($322 million) to build a power plant in Azerbaijan, its first turnkey power plant to be built in the CIS countries of the former Soviet Union.
Siemens's Power Generation unit (PG) said on Tuesday the 500-megawatt plant would be built at an existing power plant site on the Caspian Sea, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) northwest of Baku, and would go into commercial operation in autumn 2007.
"With this major order PG will at the same time gain a foothold in the dynamic oil production region on the Caspian Sea," Siemens said in a statement.
Siemens said it would supply two gas turbines, one steam turbine and three generators, as well as all of the mechanical equipment required for the seawater-cooled plant to state-owned utility Azerenerji JSC.
And it said there was potential to do more business in the Central Asian country's fast-growing economy.
"Azerbaijan urgently needs additional power plant capacity. The construction of further new combined cycle power plants is therefore planned in the next few years."
Siemens's Power Generation turbines unit made sales of 7.5 billion euros in its fiscal year to September 2004, about 10 percent of Siemens' total revenues.