First compressors arrive in Greece for Trans Adriatic Pipeline project

The first gas turbine turbo compressor units to be installed in the compressor station of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) near Kipoi, Greece, have been delivered to site.

TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries. The pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south.

TAP’s shareholders are: BP (20 percent), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (20 percent), Snam (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent). TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 km, Albania 215 km, Adriatic Sea 105 km, and Italy 8 km). Its highest point will be 1,800 meters in Albania’s mountains, while its lowest point will be 820 meters beneath the sea.

Siemens had won an order from the Trans Adriatic Pipeline consortium for six 15-megawatt SGT-400-driven turbo compressor trains. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will open up the so-called Southern Gas Corridor for Europe. Installation is scheduled for 2017 and the pipeline is expected to begin operating in late 2019.

Each of the six gas turbine-driven compressor trains comprises an SGT-400 industrial gas turbine and a Siemens barrel-type STC-SV compressor. Siemens will deliver three compressor trains to the compressor station in Kipoi, Greece. This marks the beginning of the TAP at the border to Turkey. The TAP's landfall in Albania will be 17 kilometers northwest of Fier, up to 400 meters inland from the shoreline. Another three units will be installed in this compressor station. Here, the natural gas will be compressed to up to 130 bar and make its way along the 105-kilometer seabed from the Albanian to the Italian coast.