OREANDA-NEWS. Hydropower unit No.22 has been commissioned at Volzhskaya HPP after being renovated. Time-expired equipment was replaced with new one - hydrogenerator, auxiliary equipment, control and instrumentation system and also excitation thyristor system, manufactured by Power Machines as the general project contractor. The equipment renovation was completed under RusHydro's Comprehensive Renovation Programme.

The generator of hydropower unit 22 was renovated under the long-term contract, executed between RusHydro and Power Machines in 2011. As provided in the contract, 10 hydroturbines and 22 generators shall be replaced. The general contractor shall also remove obsolete equipment and install new equipment, and shall also provide installation supervision and commissioning services. So far 13 hydroturbines and 2 generators have been replaced at the plant. The renovation of all the hydropower units at Volzhskaya HPP is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

The first 12 turbines at Volzhskaya HPP had been replaced earlier, between 1998 and 2013, as the plant was being retrofitted. The hydraulic turbine of hydropower unit 22 was replaced in July 1998 - at the initial phase of the renovation of main equipment at Volzhskaya HPP.

The Volzhskaya HPP Comprehensive Renovation Programme is expected to last until 2025. A budget of 58.4 billion roubles has been planned for its implementation. Apart from renovating hydropower units, the Comprehensive Renovation Programme includes: renovation of the automated control system for hydropower units; comprehensive renovation of 500 kV outdoor switchgear equipment; replacement of 220 kV and 500 kV power transformers, spillway gates and other hydromechanical equipment.

The Comprehensive Renovation Programme will improve the reliability and performance of the equipment and also, by the end of 2025, increase the installed capacity of Volzhskaya HPP by 147 MW (in relation to the end of 2011, as the Comprehensive Renovation Programme began).