Recent power industry contracts/India

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has awarded two contracts for the service and rehabilitation of hydropower facilities to the Austrian company VA Tech Hydro. The combined value of the contacts is R11.5 million. The two projects will be carried out by a consortium of VA Tech Hydro India and VA Tech Escher Wyss Flovel. Work on the first project, involving the Mettur dam powerhouse, has already started. This dam was originally constructed in 1946 and is located on the Cauvery river, 300 km southwest of Chennai. The Mettur plant has four 10 MW horizontal Francis turbines who's output is to be increased by 25 per cent. The second project, at the Papanasam dam powerhouse 580km from Chennai, involves uprating four 7 MW vertical Francis turbines to 8 MW each. This plant was commissioned in 1851. Work at the two power stations will involve installation of new turbine runners and governors and rehabilitation of other components. VA Tech Hydro India will be responsible for rewinding the stators and rotors of the generators and replacing the existing excitation systems with a static excitation systems.