OREANDA-NEWS. March 13, 2015. Alstom has secured a contract worth €12 million from Mitrai Erim Ltd. to renovate the steam turbines of blocks 4 and 5. The project is the largest renovation project in Hungary in the past 8 years in which the original performance and availability of the blocks will be restored using a unique solution. This lignite-fired power plant with an installed base of 950 MW is the largest coal fired power plant in Hungary, supplying energy to close to 1 million households and 21% of the total energy production in the country.

As part of the order, Alstom will renovate 2 turbines of 232 MW capacity each, and the auxiliary subsystems in Mitrai Power Plant. Field works, engineering, quality control and project management will be performed by the local service team of Alstom of 60 experts. During the project, low, intermediate and high pressure units of the turbines will be modernised. Subsystems of the turbines, such as safety and control, gland steam, jacking and lube oil, turbine drain systems as well as bleedings are also part of the order. The works on the turbines will be completed in the workshops of Alstom in Mannheim and Berlin, Germany as well as in Birr, Switzerland.

„Thanks to the renovation we aim to restore the original performance of the equipment” – said Andr?s Giczey, Director of Mitrai Power Plant. „It will allow for a more cost efficient operation as well as increased availability. Thanks to the increased energy supply security of the power plant, M?tra Power Plant will continue providing a significant share of the domestic energy production” – he added.

The process for the renovation is unique in Hungary, with Alstom renovating a turbine unit purchased by Mitrai Power Plant from another power station, replacing the equipment in Block V, and then in turn using this one to renovate and replace the one in Bloc IV. This method allows for only 66 days of outage time per block, which is significantly lower timeframe compared to a usual turbine overhaul, as the blocks need to be shut down only for time of the replacement of the equipment. In contrast, if the blocks needed to be shut down for the entire renewal time, it would necessitate close to one and a half times more, 90 days of outage, which would mean a significantly longer electricity production loss period.

“Alstom’s professional relations with the power plant goes back to its construction, this is why we are delighted to provide our state-of-the-art expertise to this project” – said Dr. Csaba Kiss, Managing Director of Power Service Division of Alstom Hungary.

Beyond the order from Mitrai, Alstom is progressing well with the renewal of the generators of Paks Nuclear Power Plant. Alstom’s Power Service Sector secured the €5.1 million contract to retrofit the rotors of 8 operating  and 1 spare generator at MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant in 2013. According to the contract, one rotor per year is being renewed in the power station, and Alstom has already successfully refurbished the third rotor this year.