Alstom Wins Additional Modernization Contract from Polish Power Plant

Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--Alstom S.A. (ENX:ALO) (Paris, France) announced that it has signed a contract worth approximately €65 million ($84 million) with GDF Suez Energia Polska S.A.(Katowice Poland), which owns and operates Poland's Polaniec power plant, for the modernization of six units at the plant.

The Polaniec plant is the fifth-largest electricity plant in the country and the largest plant in southeastern Poland. With an 1,800-megawatt (MW) installed capacity, the plant produces both conventional and renewable energy through the use of coal and biomass. The plant has eight units, each with a generation capacity of 225 megawatts (MW). The first unit was commissioned in 1979 and the last in 1983. Between 1992 and 1995, the low-pressure steam turbines of all the units were retrofitted.

Alstom is currently retrofitting the steam turbine of Unit 8 as part of a biomass boiler conversion project. Under the terms of the agreement, Alstom is engineering, delivering and commissioning new high-pressure and intermediate-pressure steam turbines. The contract also covers the modernization of the turbine's auxiliary systems and the assembly of the steam turbines, generator and exciter systems. When completed, the new turbine components will boost turbine cycle efficiency 3.4%; improve the unit's availability and reliability; and extend the turbines' design lifetime by 30 years. Unit 8 is expected to re-enter commercial operations by the end of 2012.

The new contract is similar to the work performed on Unit 8, whereby for units 2 through 7, Alstom Power will engineer, deliver and commission new high-pressure and intermediate-pressure steam turbines. The scope also covers a major overhaul of low-pressure parts and the modernization of the turbine auxiliary systems. The first turbine is expected to be ready for operation in May 2013, with the final one being handed over in December 2014. The modernization will improve the units' availability and reliability, and will extend the unit lifetimes by 25 years. Following the modernization, each unit will increase its capacity from 225 MW to generate an output in excess of 240 MW.

The contract also includes the option of retrofitting an additional unit (Unit 1) of the power plant. A decision about the modernization of Unit 1 will be made before 2014.

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