A £20M project to enhance Wilton power station and underpin jobs is up and running.

A new gas turbine and boiler plant at the 155MW combined heat and power station, owned by SembCorp Utilities UK, has been delivered on time and to budget.

The project, which created about 85 jobs during construction and involved 200,000 hours' work, began generating its first electricity a year after construction work started.

Managed by SembSolutions, SembCorp's in-house project team at Wilton, work also involved the design, construction and commissioning of a "power island" by Aker Kvaerner's AK Engineering Services business.

Phil Morland, SembCorp Utilities UK's project manager, said: "Our company has been working on this project for more than three years, during which we've encountered a change in ownership, changes in legislation and many other unexpected challenges."

He said Sembcorp Utilities UK's delivery of the project to the parent company was an important demonstration of its capability to expand SembCorp's business in the UK and abroad.

The project was sanctioned by SembCorp's Singapore-based parent company within days of acquiring the utilities and services business in April 2003. It marks a new chapter in the history of the station, which is at the heart of the Wilton International site and which supplies electrical power, steam and other utilities to many of the site's blue chip manufacturers, including Huntsman, Invista, Dow and DuPontSA.

The plant is the first large-scale investment in new equipment at the station for 16 years. It generates 42MW of electricity - enough to power an area larger than Guisborough - and adds to the station's overall reliability and environmental efficiency.

Paul Gavens, SembCorp Utilities UK's managing director, said: "This is a great achievement for everyone associated with the business and a real boost for utilities supplies on this site.

"Our customers require uninterrupted supplies of power and steam and this unit will significantly add to the reliability and flexibility of our electrical and steam supplies."

Wilton power station has served the site for more than 50 years. More than 160 of SembCorp's 600 employees are directly linked to its operations.

The new turbine has also brought about environmental benefits. The resulting closure of an oil-fired boiler at the station means substantially reduced emissions from the plant because the new plant burns natural gas, using the latest technology.

Mr Gavens added: "The power station is already relatively energy efficient, by virtue of the fact that we re-use much of the steam, but this will enhance its environmental performance even further."