OREANDA-NEWS.  January 17, 2012.  Upon completion of the renewal and testing works, Power Machines OJSC has begun to ship parts and assemblies of the impeller for hydro unit No. 16 at Cheboksarskaya HPP. A renovated 80-ton housing of the impeller is handed over to the customer's representative ‑ Turboremont VVK, JSC ‑ for transportation and mounting. 

Power Machines began to work on the renovation of hydro units for Cheboksarskaya HPP five years ago. Under the terms of the contracts signed with RusHydro JSC, Power Machines completed the renewal of four-bladed impellers for hydro units No. 7 and No. 8 along with the upgrade of the blade slewing mechanism, including the production of new parts and assemblies. Impeller No. 7 was reconstructed by the St. Petersburg power engineering company in 2008. The start-up operations on the renovated hydro unit No. 8 are currently being completed at an affiliate of RusHydro JSC, Cheboksarskaya HPP.

A contract to perform similar works on the reconstruction of impeller No. 16 at Cheboksarskaya HPP was signed between Power Machines and a subsidiary of RusHydro JSC, Turboremont VVK, JSC, in August 2010.

This year Power Machines OJSC and RusHydro JSC have expanded their cooperation aimed at upgrading the hydro units of Cheboksarskaya HPP by entering into contracts for the renovation of the impellers in hydro units No.2, No.4, No.6, No.10, No.12, No.13, No.15 and No.17, including the production of new parts and assemblies of nodes of impeller blade slewing mechanisms. Delivery of the first renovated impeller is scheduled for June 2012 and that of the last one ‑ for May 2016. Components of the impeller for hydro unit No.4 were sent to St. Petersburg for upgrading in October 2011.

The aim of the renewal is to transfer the impeller blade slewing mechanism from forced propeller mode to Kaplan mode. This is to ensure their steady work throughout the range of loads and pressures, involvement in frequency control in the power system, as well as obtaining the highest efficiency value.   

Cheboksarskaya HPP hydro units have environmentally-friendly structure with an oil-free impeller hub. This design was developed in the 1970s by Hydroturbomash special design bureau and was eventually adopted by the Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod to produce equipment for Cheboksarskaya HPP and Nizhnekamskaya HPP in the 1980s. That was a solution to the most important environmental issue in water resources of the country's major arteries, the Volga and Kama Rivers, for electricity generation.

The renovation of Cheboksarskaya HPP impellers is being carried out within the framework of comprehensive plant upgrade programme and is aimed at not only increasing the hydro units output but at increasing operational reliability and safety of the whole HPP as well.

This project continues the successful partnership between Power Machines and RusHydro aimed at developing the Russian hydro power industry. At present, in addition to working together on the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP overhaul, several projects are being implemented jointly, including the construction of Boguchanskaya HPP and Zagorskaya PSPP-2, the renovation of hydro units for Volzhskaya, Rybinskaya, Saratovskaya and Zhigulyovskaya HPPs.