Hydro turbine installation contract awarded

WD Power is excited to have signed the installation contract for another power station at Kibali Gold Mine in the DRC.  This contract is for the full scope of mechanical installation of two 5 MW Horisontal Kaplan turbines.  The civil works is well underway, and all equipment is on site.  The contract is planned to start in February 2018 and commissioning will be 6 months later.  The WD team is familiar with the Kibali mine in the DRC as this is now the third large power station installation done by us.  The Azambi plant follows, Nzoro 4x Francis turbines and Ambarau 2x Kaplan sister sets.

Each turbine unit is equipped with a gearbox to increase speed from 180 rpm to 750 rpm.  The runner diameter is 3100 mm.  The power station head is 11 m and flow per unit is 53 m³/s.  Generator output is 5050 kW per turbine.  The combined output of the Hydro plants will be about 40 MW.  One can clearly see why the client has opted for the Hydro route, considering that the alternative energy source is diesel generators.  The cost of diesel to site is enormous and allows the client to easily recover the capital costs of installing hydro power.

As with the previous turbines installed at Kibali, the 2x Azambi turbines were also manufactured in South Africa, for the French supplier, HPP. This has the advantage that the WD Power team is familiar with the turbine and are able to provide a value added service to the client.  The mechanical installation covers the full scope from initial equipment positioning though to commissioning. This turbine component positioning is critical as these components are cast into the concrete with no second opportunity to make any adjustments.  On completion of the civil works, the various rotating components from turbine rotor, gearbox to generator are installed and aligned.  The final phase of the installation project is to install and commission all the auxiliaries and associated system to service, control and protect the turbine.  Once these steps are completed, the units are ready for first water.