VA Tech Hydro has been awarded a contract for modernisation and rehabilitation work at the Kembs hydro power plant on the river Rhine in Alsace, France.

Awarded by Electricite de France (EDF), the contract involves the rehabilitation of one of two Kaplan turbine runners. The original turbine was commissioned in 1946 and installed by Ateliers des Charmilles of Geneva, which now forms part of VA Tech Hydro.

The scope of the contract, designed with an ecological concept of oil free hub, to deliver 24.8MW, will include complete engineering, modeltest, all components, site installation and commissioning. A CFD study of the complete turbine is included in order to optimise the hydraulic profile and behaviour of the new fiveblades runner.

VA Tech Hydro has full responsibility for the project’s erection and commissioning, scheduled to be completed for July 2007.