Technology Group Voith is to manufacture, supply and commission two StreamDivers for the Gradiste small hydro plant in Macedonia. The company will also supervise installation and supply the gate valves.
The power plant is set to go into operation early in 2020 and will supply clean power to up to 900 households in the Jegunovce region north of the Macedonian capital Skopje.
The plant is one of 12 facilities currently being planned for the river Vardar and intended to increase the hydropower share within Macedonia's total energy mix.
“The StreamDiver turbine-generator unit is ideal for the new power plant location”, explained Besfort Aliti, owner and managing director of client Bart Energy DOO Skopje. “Compared with a conventional vertical Kaplan turbine that would normally have been used, we are gaining significant benefits in respect of delivery time and on-site implementation”.
The centerpiece of the StreamDiver technology is the turbine generator unit with a permanent magnet generator built into an oil-free bulb housing that is available in a range of 50 to 800 kW. The unit can be completely submerged, so it can operate independently regardless of any existing structures. It can also be integrated into existing power plants.
Voith estimates the potential of the StreamDiver technology to be around fiveGW worldwide. The regions with the greatest potential are in North America and Europe, particularly in the north and east of Europe, it said.
