SFIL will supply runner crowns and runner bands to the Francis turbines being supplied to the new project being built on the Sogamoso River.
“andritz Hydro is an existing customer of SFIL and the Sogamoso contract reflects the time and effort that Sheffield Forgemasters has put into the hydro-power sector over the past two decades,” said Volker Schaffer, sales director at SFIL. “During this time, Sheffield Forgemasters has been at the forefront of component production for power generation, which has led us to develop highly refined processes for creating critical components which operate under extreme stresses.”
Each casting for the turbines that SFIL will produce takes six months to complete. SFIL will provide four runner crowns weighing in at 22 tonnes each and four runner bands at just over 11 tonnes each.
Based on the studies previously conducted, an installed capacity of 820 MW is anticipated for the Sogamoso project, which will produce, on average, 5056 GW/h annually.
The contract with Andritz is set to be completed in June 2011 with the majority of the work supplied by SFIL being completed at the new machine shop on Brightside Lane.
The contract adds to a long list of global hydropower projects which SFIL has supplied vital components to over the years, including the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River and India’s Karcham Wangtoo.
Last month SFIL made an additional commitment to the hydropower industry by becoming a member of the British Hydropower Association.
