TVA's Nickajack to Undergo Hydro-Modernization

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Beginning next year, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will start the Hydro-Modernization Project (HMOD) at the Nickajack Hydroelectric Plant. All four units at the plant are to be modernized by 2016.

The Nickajack Dam was built in 1967 at a $73 million cost to replace the Hales Bar Dam, which had been in existence since 1913 and had developed leaks. Nickajack Dam is the sixth step in the stairway of reservoirs and locks for barges loaded with commodities on the Tennessee River. The Nickajack reservoir extends 46 miles upstream to the Chickamauga Dam.

Tennessee Valley Authority is modernizing the hydro plant to improve the efficiency of the turbines and extend the plant service life. The work will consist of runner replacement, generator cooling system modifications, generator rewinds, and generator protective relays replacement. Components to be refurbished will include rotor insulation, turbine/generator bearings, a shaft brake system, a distribution ring, headcover, a bottom ring, a main exciter, a thrust runner and wicket gates. The increase in generation after the modernization will be from the current 101 megawatts to 115 megawatts.

The hydroelectric turbine generators consist of equipment manufactured by S Morgan Smith, Allis-Chalmers Energy Incorporated (NYSE:ALY) (Houston, Texas), Hitachi Limited (NYSE:HIT) (Chiyoda-ku, Japan) and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut).

In the 1990s, TVA began to rehabilitate and upgrade hydropower generation facilities. Eventually, as many as 92 hydro-turbine units at 26 plant sites may be rehabilitated and modernized. The goal of the HMOD project is to provide a safer and more reliable hydropower system, improved operational efficiency, and increases in system capacity.

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