Brazil's Salto Grande Unit 1 Resumes Operations after Unplanned Outage

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Since May 2006, Unit 1 of the Salto Grande hydroelectric power plant has been under maintenance since it was forced to go offline. The incident was caused by an oil contamination in the plant's General Electric generator, which has been dismantled by Weg Motors (Santa Catarina, Brazil), to repair the stator and coil, and to wind the motor.

Repairs at the 27-megawatt (MW) Francis turbine were completed by the end of June, and the unit resumed operations for about a month before it suffered problems and had to go offline again for more maintenance. Unit 1 will finally resume operations November 30, 2007, according to Weg Motor officials.

The 104-MWSalto Grande plant is operated by the Brazilian electric company Cemig, and it has four General Electric units that produce between 25 MW and 27 MW. The units, near San Antonio River in Braunas, Mina Gerais, have been operating since 1956.

In March 2008, Unit 2 will be out of service for six months for a general maintenance at the turbine and generator. The 27-MW unit will be dismantled and motor-winding will take place, as well.

Cemig will call for bids in the first quarter 2008 to conduct maintenance at Units 3 and 4 by the end of 2008.

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