Comprehensive testing has started on the fourth – and final – unit at the Low Bureya hydropower plant in Russia.
The plant’s power engineers and specialists from Power Machines are carrying out the final stage of equipment testing before the hydropower unit will be put into controlled operation, with the tests expected to take around a month.
The comprehensive testing program includes load operation testing of not only primary power equipment, but all auxiliary equipment, and the power distribution circuit equipment.
The contract for the delivery of four 80MW hydraulic power units for the Low Bureya plant was signed by the Low Bureya HPP Company (an affiliate of the PJSC RusHydro) and Power Machines in September 2013.
Under the terms of the contract, Power Machines is responsible for the design, manufacture, delivery, supervised assembly and installation of four hydraulic power unit equipment kits, each including an adjustable blade turbine complete with an automatic control system, a hydraulic generator with a field system and power unit auxiliary equipment.
Among the project’s features is an eco-friendly hydraulic turbine wheel. The design of the adjustable blade wheel excludes the possibility of oil leaks into the river water.
The Low Bureya plant is a compensating reservoir of the Bureya plant, the second power plant of the Bureya hydropower system. The design capacity of the power plant is 320MW. Apart from the production of electric energy, an important function of Low Bureya is leveling out the unevenness of the daily water discharge at the Bureya. The Low Bureya HPP’s construction began in 2010 as one of the priority projects of the PJSC RusHydro Investment Program.