Major Capital Works in Progress at Contact Energy's Hydro Plants in New Zealand

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--As part of the ongoing maintenance of its assets, Contact Energy Limited (Wellington, New Zealand) has proposed to replace the power generator exciters and transformers at its Roxburgh and Clyde hydro stations along the Clutha River in Central Otago, New Zealand.

Built during 1956-62, the 320-megawatt (MW) Roxburgh Station is the oldest hydro dam power station in the region. The power plant is equipped with eight 40-MW Francis turbines, supplied by Escher Wyss. Contact Energy began the transformer replacement program in 2011 at Roxburgh Station and completed the replacement of a few units by the end of 2013. The next replacement project on one of the remaining units will begin in the first quarter of 2014. Wilson Transformers was chosen to supply air-cooled transformers for the replacement project.

Contact Energy built the Clyde Power Station on New Zealand's third-largest hydro-electric dam during 1992. Clyde operates with four 108-MW Francis Vertical turbines, which were manufactured by Hitachi Limited.

Contact Energy is planning to replace the generator excitation system on all four units at the Clyde station and eight units at Roxburgh within the next four years to maximize the value of its hydro-generation assets. Transformer replacement is expected to take eight weeks per unit, and excitation replacement on each unit will take up to four weeks.

Contact Energy is currently evaluating bid documents submitted by Delta Utility Services (Otago, New Zealand) and Transfield Worley Services (Taranaki, New Zealand). Final selection of the major contractors will be done in a few weeks. The Roxburgh and Clyde stations will undergo minor maintenance and repairs while the units are turned off to perform the replacement work.

The million-dollar projects are expected to improve the regulation of the generator output voltage, as well as enhance stability of the power network.

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