Russian turbine-generator manufacturer OJSC Power Machines said in a statement that the second unit was due to come online by the end of May.
Power Machines is part of the JV that signed a US$750M turnkey contract with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) in March 2003 to build the 750MW hydro project within 1620 days.
The Constructora Internacional de Infraestructura JV is led by the Empresas ICA Sociedad group, which is led by its subsidiary Promotora e Inversora Adisa with a 40% stake. Power Machines said its share of the El Cajon contract is worth more than US$140M to supply electromechanical and auxiliary equipment for the two units.
Each of the generators supplied to the project has a rated capacity of 375MW and a maximum capacity of 416.7MW. The units have a generator voltage of 17kV, which is greater than the common rating of 15.75kV at the client’s request.
In other project news, in February Power Machines commissioned the third of the four 250MW units supplied to stage I of the Tehri hydro project in Uttar Pradesh, India. The first two units were brought online last year in September and November, respectively.
On the Tehri hydro project the company supplied the principal hydro-mechanical and auxiliary equipment – including turbines with runner dia. of 4.1m and rotation speed of 214.3rpm, and spherical and butterfly valves.
The Tehri contract was signed 10 years ago with the JV government client, and delivery of equipment was completed in 2003. The fourth and final unit is due to be commissioned by late April.
Conceived in the 1970s, work began in 1978 but construction of the Tehri project has been halted on a number of occasions, principally due to legal action by conservationists. Reservoir impounding was only allowed to start in 2003. The rockfill dam built for the project will be one of the world’s highest and give the reservoir a power potential of up to 2400MW.
