Venezuela's Planta Centro to Bring 400 Megawatts Back Online After 7-Year Conversion to Gas on Unit 1

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The 2,000-megawatt (MW) Planta Centro complex, one of Latin America's largest thermal power plants, has been reduced to about 500 MW because the boilers of units 1 and 5 have been undergoing conversions to gas since August 2003. The facility, which began operations in 1978, is owned and operated by Compania Anonima de Administracion y Fomento Electrico, a subsidiary of Corpoelec, Venezuela's state-owned utility.

The gas-conversion tasks on Unit 1 that are being performed by Alstom Power (EPA:ALO) (Levallois-Perret, France) were supposed to be completed in March of last year. However, plant officials said that work was delayed due to administrative issues and non-fulfillment of the agreements stated at the beginning.

Works on Unit 1 included the conversion of the boiler to burn natural gas and the installation of a new control system. Currently, tests are being performed in the control system and the boiler. Plant officials said that the machine is in the commissioning phase and it should be operational by the end of the month.

At the same time, Unit 5 is undergoing conversion to gas, but the unit's end date is uncertain due to a fire that occurred in the auxiliary transformer, BT02.

Unit 2 is offline due to maintenance of bearings and boiler works. The unit is expected to be brought back online in the last quarter of the year, plant officials told Industrial Info. This unit has been generating about 250 MW from its 400-MW capacity because of a problem with the vacuum condenser and the turbine's speed sensor.

Unit 4 was brought back online February 17, after being down for a couple of days due to a strong gas leak in the boiler. This unit had been reduced to 300 MW because of low oxygen levels caused by several leaks in the air-gas system.

In recent months, the plant has been generating between 100 MW and 600 MW of electricity. For more details, view September 28, 2009, article - Venezuela's Planta Centro Derated to 460 Megawatts after Boiler Failure.

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