OREANDA-NEWS. July 30, 2010. Power Machines manufactured and shipped a new 640 MW hydro generator ahead of contract dates. It will replace the damaged generator of hydro unit 3 at RusHydro's Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP.

Hydro unit 3 is one of the four units at SSHPP which the investigation carried out after the accident of 17 August 2009 found to require reconditioning (the other three being 6, 5, and 4). For hydro unit 3, hydro turbine equipment must be repaired and the generator replaced. Hydro unit 3 is scheduled to be put to commercial use in December 2010. All the 10 hydro units available at SSHPP including those repaired will have been replaced with new ones by 2014.

The damaged generator of hydro unit 3 was initially planned to be reconditioned with the use of spare parts only but then the meeting held between the management of RusHydro and Power Machines on 21 December 2009 where equipment to be supplied for hydro units 3 and 4 was discussed decided that a new hydro generator should be manufactured. An appropriate contract was signed in February 2010.

Power Machines already manufactured and supplied all necessary spare parts to repair hydro units 6, 5, and 4 that had best survived the accident at SSHPP. Hydro units 6 and 5 were reconditioned and put into operation ahead of the scheduled time – in February/March 2010. Hydro unit 4 will be launched this August as specified in the SSHPP recovery schedule, approved by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. Power Machines is now completing the manufacture of spare parts for the turbine equipment of hydro unit 3.

At the same time Power Machines is manufacturing main power equipment necessary to recondition all the ten hydro units of Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP. Hydro turbine type tests before takeover have been successfully completed and found that the equipment met the terms of reference and demonstrated better operational safety. Power Machines' engineers designed new hydro turbines and hydro generators and their detailed designs were approved by experts of the Technical and Scientific Board of RusHydro.

The appropriate contract, under which main power equipment for the recovery of Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP will be manufactured, was signed between Power Machines and RusHydro in November 2009. Pursuant to the contract, Power Machines will manufacture ten hydro turbines and ten hydro generators, 640 MW each, as well as six excitation systems. In addition, Power Machines will provide turnkey installation services including installation supervision and commissioning of the equipment supplied. The contract price is 11.7 billion roubles (excluding VAT).

The service life of the new hydro units will be extended to 40 years with a maximum hydro turbine efficiency of 96.6%. A hydro turbine's power and cavitation performance will be improved. The turbines will also be equipped with a more efficient protection system, which will allow their automatic shutdown in case of out-of-limit operation.