Under the terms of the deal, Toshiba will replace six 312MW pump turbines and upgrade their motor generators and associated equipment, boosting their output by up to 50MW per unit
Installation of the new equipment will start in June 2013 and all units are expected to be commissioned and on line by the end of 2019. Design engineering for the project will be done at Toshiba's Keihin Product Operations in Japan, and most of the equipment will be manufactured at Toshiba Hydro Power (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. (THPC), a consolidated subsidiary of Toshiba in China. The runner, the main component of the hydraulic turbine, weighs approximately 260 metric tons and has a diameter of about 8.4m, and is the world's heaviest and largest runner for a pumped storage hydro power plant.
The Ludington plant was built between 1969 and 1973, and at that time was the world's largest pumped storage hydro plant. The new upgrade work will be the most comprehensive in the plant's history.
