Electricity for 150,000 households

Carillon, Canada

ANDRITZ Hydro Canada is to re-equip up to fourteen 54 MW turbine generator units at the Carillon generating station after selection by Hydro-Québec, Canada as the exclusive project partner. Under the terms of a contract awarded on September 30, 2020, ANDRITZ will supply and install a first set of six units. Under a second separate contract due to commence on March 31, 2021, ANDRITZ is to rehabilitate the hydraulic passages at the plant. Realization of the project contracts awarded so far will span more than seven years.

Built between 1959 and 1964, the hydroelectric power station is located on the Ottawa River near Carillon in Quebec and on the border with Ontario. A run-of-river generating station with an installed capacity of 753 MW, the plant has a head of 18 m and a 26 km2 reservoir.

ANDRITZ was the original equipment manufacturer of the existing turbines and generators. The first phase of the turbine generator contract includes the complete re-equipment of six units with new generators, speed governors, distributor components and Kaplan-type turbines. All removable parts will be replaced. ANDRITZ is responsible for the design, manufacture, transportation, assembly, testing and commissioning of all the equipment.

Model testing for the Kaplan design was witnessed by the customer in February 2021, during which all performance guarantees were perfectly met. Both the model testing and engineering design activities were done in parallel based on a limited notice to proceed (LNTP), issued in September 2019 to ensure the tight delivery schedule for the first unit was met. Most of the design work is being performed at ANDRITZ facilities in and around Montreal where the project management office is located. This is less than 60 km from the Carillon generating station.

With its 14 generating units Carillon produces 753 MW. That’s enough for 150,000 Canadian households.

Procurement activities started in October 2020. Core laminations are coming from the ANDRITZ workshop in Weiz, Austria, and coil windings are being manufactured in the ANDRITZ workshop in Ontario. Most of the new components are being sourced from local Quebec companies, based on a priced option in the contract. This local content requirement was initiated as part of the Quebec government’s mid-term plans to jump-start the local economy following the downturn due to the COVID global pandemic.

A separate contract comprises all work related to the design, manufacture and installation of hydro-mechanical equipment required for the repair and / or replacement of six hydraulic passages including civil engineering work. The scope of these contracts includes 18 new intake gates (6 m × 10 m), 18 sets of new embedded guides (25 m), rehabilitation of 18 trash racks (6 m × 20 m), as well as 18 new hydraulic hoist systems. This contract also includes two further options, each for the rehabilitation of four additional passages, for a total of 14 hydraulic passages. Work has already started on the design and procurement phases.

Site works are due to start in November 2021 with the assembly and winding of the first stator in the service bay. ANDRITZ is also looking at maximizing the pre-assembly of components prior to receiving them on-site to reduce installation work over the 30-week planned outage starting in March 2022. The current plan is to complete one unit per year, with an option to see two units overhauled per year after the third is completed.

Having two contracts in the same powerhouse will allow ANDRITZ to leverage both project teams to find synergies and save overall site costs.

ANDRITZ’ knowledge of the existing units, the expertise and local presence of its execution teams, as well as the team’s proximity to the Carillon generating station make ANDRITZ the perfect partner for the execution of this important project, which could span over 16 years in total. Commissioning of the last unit is planned for 2036.