Preparing for Waterpower ‘99

10 June 1999



The US and global water power industries will meet in Las Vegas on 6-9 July at Waterpower, the US industry’s longest-running show


The host of this year’s Waterpower show is the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. Preparing to chair the meeting, the Bureau’s Michael Roluti says this is a critical moment to grasp changing issues and new market possibilities. ‘Never has it been so crucial to know what colleagues experience when adopting new standards and developing new solutions’, he says, ‘Never has it been so essential to understand hydro’s global role and its effects on your business’.

The issues facing the industry will be addressed in six conference tracks, covering: civil construction; environmental and cultural; mechanical and electrical; water resources; economics; and policy issues. Special sessions will address issues including dam removal; modernisation and rehabilitation; the environment; and restructuring.

While delegates work through the issues raised at the conference sessions, companies and contractors to the industry will be represented in the exhibition, running alongside the conference. International Water Power and Dam Construction invited exhibitors to highlight the new ideas that they will be bringing to Las Vegas; as readers will see from the following three pages, new technologies and new approaches will bring a forward-thinking air to this show, as the industry prepares to meet the challenges of the next century and beyond.

Acres International

GLA Productive Technologies and Acres International will be demonstrating features of their Vista DSS at Waterpower ‘99. Vista has been recognised by epri as a leading software suite for optimising revenues from hydroelectric resources.

Vista is composed of modules for load forecasting, inflow forecasting, transaction handling, long-term scheduling of generation and transactions, and short-term scheduling, as well as static and dynamic data management. Vista also has a comprehensive study-mode version (AUTO Vista) that is used for analysis of facility upgrades, project relicensing, operations, and power market opportunities.

American Babbitt Bearing

American Babbitt Bearing says it is proud to service the hydroelectric industry worldwide. The company believes its expansion, with new 6000ft2 centrifugal casting and 800ft2 shot blasting facilities, will give it the ability to service all the industry’s needs. The new facility has three centrifugal casting machines with capabilities of 120OD and can produce bearings simultaneously; it also has a large bake-out oven to facilitate the process.

American Babbitt Bearing says it believes in serving its customers ‘with the highest quality repairs and manufacturing for babbitt bearings anywhere’.

ASL Environmental Services

ASL, of British Columbia, Canada, says it is developing new markets for its acoustic scintillation flow meter (ASFM). The ASFM is a new instrument applying a proven technology to perform flow measurements in low-head plants. Recent sales or service contracts have been signed with Hydro Québec, Manitoba Hydro, Tennessee Valley Authority and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The company will also present a paper, jointly with the Corps, assessing the effect of fish screens on turbine efficiency.

This will be the first time ASL has exhibited at Waterpower.

Bechtel Hydro

‘Innovative solutions leading to economically viable projects is the hallmark of the Bechtel Hydro group’, the 69-year-old company claims. Bechtel says its has been involved in some of the world’s largest and most complex hydro facilities, from the Hoover dam onwards.

Bechtel offers services for hydro project development including planning, conceptual and feasibility studies, financial and economic analyses, project financing, project and construction management, engineering, procurement, direct-hire construction startup support and operation and maintenance. It is pursuing opportunities in Canada, Central and South America, Malaysia, the Philippines and Africa.

CKD Blansko

In February Czech company CKD Blansko signed a contract to refurbish unit 3 at the Dalesice pumped storage plant, operated by CEZ Praha. Dalesice was commissioned in 1978 and it houses four units with Francis reversible turbines, producing 4x112.5MW from a high of 90m.

The project will include overhaul of the Francis turbine, runner and DN500 gate. Pump efficiency will be increased by 0.5-0.7% by modifying the shape of the stay vanes and guide vanes. New developments will include use of bronze strips on the vane faces to reduce galling of the guide vanes. Similar repairs have previously been carried out at Markersbach and Cerny Vah pumped storage plants. Work at Dalesice is due for completion by October 1999.

Harza

Harza provides engineering and environmental services related to dams, hydroelectric plants, fish facilities and pumped storage. Current assignments include:

•Engineering, as part of an EPC team, on Keenleyside, a 170MW plant in Canada.

•Design services for the Olivenhain RCC dam in California

•Removing a dam to allow future upstream fish passage at Maplewood Creek in Washington.

•Relicensing for Cowlitz river hydroelectric complex in Washington.

•Updating, design and construction of the Boyabat plant in Turkey.

•Design and engineering of the Rocky Road power project, Illinois.

•Selecting pump/turbine and motor/generator sets for China’s Tongbai pumped storage plant.

Iris Power Engineering

Iris develops and manufactures diagnostic equipment to determine the condition of the electrical insulation in generators and large motors. Iris says its market includes power utilities and process industries, where condition-based maintenance is crucial to motor and generator operation and longevity.

Products include electrical sensors and electronic instruments for on-line partial discharge testing, and expert system software to determine the risk of motor and generator winding failure.

Iris also produces systems for monitoring voltage surges, and recently developed SurgAlert, a portable monitor which measures the magnitude, risetime and number of voltage surges striking a motor.

Kamatics

Kamatics manufactures self-lubricated bearings for the hydroelectric industry using KAron, a high-load polyester resin with PTFE and other fillers. KAron is a homogeneous machinable liner system that operates in wet environments at 20kpsi. KAron is used in turbine applications such as wicket gates, linkages and servomotors, as well as on large gates and lock mechanisms.

KAron has been installed by the Corps of Engineers at Bonneville, Dardanelle, and Rock Island.

National Electric Coil

The Neccopak and Neccoflex coil systems, now available from National Electric Coil, are said to have advantages during installation and machine operation.

Neccopak-Z coils are manufactured with integral, flexible, conductive, silicon rubber side packing. They are said to improve coil-slot contact and withstand high temperatures. In operation the elastic side packing ensures continued tight slot fit.

For retrofitting smaller-bore machines with multi coil turns, Neccoflex coils with flexible end turns are suitable. They are manufactured with partially cured end turns and fully cured cell portions, requiring fewer brazes at installation.

Orkot Composites

Five horizontal machines at Pacific Gas & Electric’s Faraday dam are running with Orkot material for wicket gate bushings. The 3in diameter bushings were installed using dry ice with a press fit of 0.007-o.1in and a running clearance of 0.006-0.12in, and they run on polished stainless steel. Bushing dimensions were checked after 10,000hr in operation, and no wear was detected.

rittmeyer

Rittmeyer specialises in process control and instrumentation for water and energy management in hydropower, hydrography, river flow regulation and water supply. The company offers instrumentation and service for ultrasonic flow measurement in single and multi-path technology, closed conduits up to 40ft in diameter and open channels up to 150ft wide.It offers pressure and level measuring instrumentation for a wide range of applications with accuracies up to 0.01%FS. Rittmeyer also offers robust position transmitters and clamp-on angle transmitters for measurement and control. Recent contracts include Salto Caxia, Brazil, Sultarthangi, Iceland, and Peuchen, Chile.

RRS Industries

Formed in 1989, RRS says it now supplies Tuffloat protective booms to many dam owners in the US, including US Bureau of Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Gas & Electric, Niagara Mohawk Power, Consolidated Hydro Industries and Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The durable non-metallic booms were developed with a California utility.

Tenmat

Tenmat supplies Feroform vertical pump bearings for use in the hydro industry. The company claims that Feroform offer low swell, low friction, high wear resistance, dry start ability and process fluid lubrication. For applications up to 80°C T Grade bearings are recommended; above this temperature F363 or F57 should be used.

Thordon Bearings

Thordon designs and manufactures long-wearing pollution-free Thordon wicket-gate and operating mechanism bearings, wear pads and thrust collars, water lubricated main guide bearings, segmented shaft seals, gate and screen bearings and pump bearings.

The company claims top performance at recent US Army Corps of Engineer tests and Powertech laboratories and Olmstead dam. It has gained ISO9001 quality certification.

Williams Form Engineering

Williams Form Engineering claims a place in the forefront of the manufacture of high-capacity rock and soil anchor systems, and in post-tension systems and concrete form hardware.

The company now offers epoxy anchoring systems with ultimate strengths up to 360,000lb. It recently added #9 and #20 bars to its Grade 75 all-thread rebar product line.



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