The $30 million contract to refurbish and rehabilitate unit 7 of the Castaic hydropower plant in California has been awarded to Alstom by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will design, install and commission a new Alstom-patented Hooped Pelton runner, which is an impulse turbine with buckets supported by two separate hoops, a new generator and new governor, as well as providing an exciter and controls. Commissioning is expected to take place in 2014.
The 1250 MW Castaic hydropower plant is located 35 miles north of Los Angeles and is owned and operated by LADWP, the USA’s largest municipal utility. Six of the seven units in the plant are pumped-storage units, while unit 7 is a conventional 55 MW Pelton unit. Alstom has already supplied LADWP with heat recovery steam generators, steam turbines and conventional steam boilers, and continues to provide aftermarket steam turbine, generator and boiler service in the form of parts supply and field service assistance.
• In March, the Bureau of Reclamation awarded Alstom a contract worth over USD$10 million to replace and overhaul units 1 and 2 at the 140 MW Trinity Power plant in Northern California. The scope of the contract provides for the design, fabrication and testing of a model turbine and of two identical 70 MW vertical Francis runners. Commissioning is expected for early 2015. The Trinity plant, which is part of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project, has the capacity to generate up to 140 MW, enough to supply electricity to 1,000 homes in the region.
