Australia's Power & Water Connects Third Weddell Unit to Grid after Three Years of Construction

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--The new 43-megawatt (MW) third unit of Power and Water Corporation Limited's (Northern Territory, Australia) Phase II expansion project at the Weddell Power Plant was connected to the grid and began to generate power in January, according to the project construction contractor. Commissioning and mapping tests are almost complete.

The unit underwent final reliability checks as a part of commissioning in December. A 66-kilovolt (kV) transmission line underwent extensive repair work. The line connects with all three units at the plant.

Power and Water Corporation built the Weddell Power Plant in 2008 with two simple-cycle combustion units, which were equipped with GE Energy LM6000PD turbines to produce 86 MW. The Phase II expansion project was proposed in 2010.

The project received final approval from the government in 2011 and had been under construction since late 2011. Power and Water Corporation planned to commission the third unit by 2012, but an accidental fire caused significant delays and the unit was commissioned only recently. GE Energy supplied the main turbines and BRUSH Electrical Machines Limited supplied the generators. Power and Water Corporation engaged United Group Limited (UGL) (North Sydney, Australia) to perform engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the project.

According to the plant officials, the existing two units of the power plant will undergo a 10-day regular maintenance outage toward the end of this year. All the mechanical and electrical equipment for the units will undergo maintenance.

Power and Water Corporation signed a long-term service agreement with GE Energy Australia (Perth, Australia), a subsidiary of General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), to provide maintenance on the units. GE will perform most of the work during the upcoming outage, while tenders will be placed for small contractors in the following months.

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