Voith Hydro has announced it is to rehabilitate and upgrade the ten turbines at Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia River in Washington, US, in a ten-year project, with installation starting in 2016.
Voith was awarded the major contract by project operator, the Grant County Public Utility District (PUD). Work will involve upgrading the ten vertical Kaplan turbines, with the majority of the rehab being carried out at Voith's York, Pennsylvania facility. The schedule will see one unit upgraded per year.
Voith said it has performed extensive model testing over the past several years, culminating in a successful customer witness test in Lausanne, Switzerland in June 2013. Each turbine is rated at approximately 100 MW.
“Voith is excited to work with Grant County PUD on turbine upgrades at the Priest Rapids Dam over the next decade," said Kevin Frank, President and CEO of Voith Hydro York, USA. "With these improvements, Priest Rapids will continue to serve Grant County PUD customers for many decades to come and continue the Pacific Northwest's leadership in generating the abundant, clean, and low-cost hydropower that provides energy to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the region."
Cavitation free performance and stringent fish passage criteria were critical components for the final awarded design of the turbine, said Voith. With the award of the Priest Rapids contract, Voith is once again modernizing components of a hydropower plant on the Columbia River; the company recently completed the final turbine upgrade at the 10-unit Wanapum Dam, which is immediately upstream from Priest Rapids.
