ALSTOM HAS WON orders totalling US$8.5M for high voltage generators based on its Powerformer technology. The first order, worth US$4.5M, came from Edmonton Power in Canada. A 32MW unit with a Pelton turbine and a rated voltage of 25kV will be delivered to the Miller Creek project 240km north of Vancouver. The equipment will be supplied jointly by alstom units in Canada and Sweden.
A second unit will be sent to the Katsurazawa plant in Hokkaido, Japan, to replace a plant that was installed in the 1950s.
In addition to the generator, Alstom will supply line side and neutral side equipment, brushless excitation equipment and control and supervision equipment, to a total contract value of around US$4M. The generator at Katsurazawa will be connected directly to a 66kV substation on the grid.
These two orders bring the number of Powerformer technology units delivered to six. The first unit, a prototype installed in 1998 at the Porjus hydro power station in Sweden, has so far exceeded 12,000 hours of service.
According to Alstom, Powerformer is a compact system because there is no step-up transformer or medium-voltage switchgear.
