Alstom Wins Polish CHP Turbine Contract

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Alstom S.A. (ENX:ALO) (Paris, France) has secured a €4 million ($5 million) contract to upgrade a steam turbine at Europe's second largest combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Poland.

The French engineering company will start work on the modernisation of a UK-50 type steam turbine at the Siekierki combined heat and power plant, which is located near the south of country's capital Warsaw, and is owned by PGNiG TERMIKA SA (Warsaw, Poland). The Siekierki power plant is fuelled by hard coal, generating 622-megawatts of electricity (MWe) and 2,081MW of heat (MWth).

The aim of the modernisation is to extend the turbine's lifetime by partially replacing elements of the degraded blading system, Alstom said. The scheduled works will include the replacement of some rotor and stator blades as well as the integration of new honeycomb seals. After the retrofit, the turbine should be capable of improved performance due to lower heat output. Along with improved efficiency Alstom maintains that the power output will climb by approximately 3 MW. The turbine's steam flow will also be optimised for best use with the steam produced by the biomass boiler. The retrofit is scheduled to be completed by September 2013.

The Siekierki contract extends a successful run of turbine retrofit contracts that Alstom has secured in the country in recent years. In May this year, Industrial Info reported that the company secured a contract worth approximately €65 million ($84 million) with GDF Suez Energia Polska S.A.(Katowice Poland), for the modernisation of six units at the Polaniec power plant.

Polaniec is the fifth-largest electricity plant in the country with an installed capacity of 1,800 MW. Its eight operating units are fired by a mix of coal and biomass. For additional information see April 27, 2012, article - Alstom Wins Additional Modernization Contract from Polish Power Plant.

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