The Kerr power house is located on the Kerr reservoir, a Roanoke river project in southern Virginia near the border with North Carolina. Completed in early 1953, the power plant supplies electricity to Dominion and Progress Energy.
ge-hydro will refurbish or upgrade all seven vertical Francis turbines and generators at the power house. The turbine runner for unit 1 will be refurbished to ensure continued reliable service with an output of nearly 13MW. The remaining units, 2-7, will have new turbine runners installed to increase the output of each of those machines from approximately 33.5MW to more than 45MW.
GE will also supply seven new sets of stator coils and windings. Ratings for the existing generators are 13,333kVA for unit 1 and 35,555kVA for units 2-7. Following the refurbishment, the rating for unit 1 will remain the same while the ratings for the other six units will increase to 52,000kVA.
The scope of the GE Hydro contract also includes turbine model testing, electrical balance-of-plant equipment, and seven new governors to be provided by GE Global Control Systems
As a key part of the contract, a turbine aeration system will be installed to increase the dissolved oxygen (DO) content in the water being discharged from the turbines. The increased DO will benefit the living organisms downstream of the power
The first refurbished unit is scheduled to resume commercial service by the end of 2004, with all seven units to be commissioned by November of 2007.
