With the lifting of the last of six new turbines, an important milestone in the Ybbs2020 project on the Danube in Austria has been reached, Verbund has announced.
The new runner weighs 113 tons and had to be lifted into place by the gantry crane with great precision. Despite the enormous size of 7.4m, there is only a mm-sized gap between the turbine and the shaft.
Heavy-duty lifts are now part of the annual routine for the team at the Ybbs-Persenbeug power plant, and requires precise coordination between the Verbund assembly team and the crane driver.
With an investment of €144 million, the revitalization of all six machine sets at Ybbs-Persenbeug will increase generation by more than 77 million kWh to a total of 1.4 billion kWh and improve reliability. As part of the major project, the six old Kaplan turbines have been replaced, generators have been modernized, and the control technology has been improved
The measures at the existing Ybbs-Persenbeug power plant make it possible to significantly increase electricity generation from hydropower – without having to structurally interfere with the surrounding area – and thus save an additional 62,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
