GE HYDRO HAS BEEN AWARDED a contract for the design, manufacture and supply of four upgraded replacement runners and one turbine shaft, with an option to include a second shaft for units 15 and 16 at Manitoba Hydro’s Pointe du Bois generating station in Canada.
The two runners for unit 16 will be shipped in October and the machine is scheduled to resume commercial service in December 2003. The second set of runners will be shipped in December and Unit 15 is expected to go back into service in January 2004.
Units 15 and 16 are double horizontal Francis turbines. The runner replacement will boost the full gate output to 6.8MW for each unit, when operating under a net head of 13.72m.
ge-hydro will utilise fully fabricated runners with pressed blades. Equipment for the project will be manufactured at GE Hydro facilities in Canada.
The Pointe du Bois Generating Station is located on the Winnipeg river, approximately 160km northeast of Winnipeg, and is the oldest power plant still in operation on the river. The station was built in the early 1900s by City Hydro, later known as Winnipeg Hydro, and acquired by Manitoba Hydro in 2002.