Quisqueya is a small city of around 25 000 people in the south-eastern part of the Dominican Republic. In 2011, Wärtsilä received a commission from Barrick Gold Corporation to build a Flexicycle plant in the city. Commissioned by Wärtsilä, Citec also started work on the project shortly thereafter. The project was named Quisqueya I, and now that it has been finished, the plant supports mining of the areas considerable gold reserves.

The size, schedule, and technical solutions of the Quisqueya I project proved challenging, which allowed the processes that Citec and Wärtsilä have refined over the years to really come into their own.

“It was a large and complex project, where the fact that we were familiar with each other’s methods helped us overcome many challenges”, says Project Manager Seppo Tiensuu of Wärtsilä.

Citec’s Project Manager Mikko Hakola agrees. Altogether the time schedule for the Quisqueya I project was very tight, so the time allotted for engineering was also short. In a situation like this, previous similar projects are of huge benefit.

“Projects get started quickly when both parties are familiar with each other. There are also fewer mistakes and misunderstandings when it is clear from the start how the engineering should be carried out down to the details”, says Hakola.

“It was a large and complex project, where the fact that we were familiar with each others’ methods helped us overcome many challenges.”

“The Quisqueya project was kept well on schedule, despite some challenging solutions”, says Tiensuu, referring to the Dominican Republic’s geographical location, which is within a hurricane and earthquake zone.

“I have led engineering work on several similar power plants, but I have never encountered such wind loads before. Standard solutions were not suited to every situation and we had to engineer special solutions to fit these specific conditions”, says Hakola.

“The unsuitability of the soil and the amount of land mass that needed to be replaced also came as a surprise during the project, and we had to develop new solutions quickly”, Tiensuu continues.

The Flexicycle plant in question is a Wärtsilä combined cycle plant that runs on both natural gas and heavy fuel oil providing the end customer with a back-up fuel source. Although LNG use in the area is growing, a large proportion of power plants in the Caribbean region still use heavy fuel oil. Thus, the Quisqueya I can be considered a pioneer and trendsetter in the area for its environmental friendliness. In addition, Quisqueya I has a sister plant, Quisqueya II, built on the same site, and together they also benefit the energy needs of the areas population.

Want to know more about Citec’s project management?
Please contact mikko.hakola@citec.com