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Thursday, July 29, 2021
Voith Hydro has modernized three generators of the Drakensberg pumped storage power plant and now successfully put them back into operation. The pumped storage power plant Drakensberg, has a total installed capacity of 1,000 MW and therefore is the second largest of its kind in South Africa.
The most unique feature of Drakensberg is that the power plant is built completely underground. Only shafts and transmission lines can be seen on the surface whereas the four reversible pump turbines are placed approximately 52 floors below ground.
The company received the order, including design, installation and commissioning, back in 2016. A special feature was that all works were carried out during normal plant operation of customer ESKOM.
Also special was the technical concept for the modernization, which improved the performance of the machines enormously thanks to selected measures. Now the generators in the power plant, which has been in operation since 1981, are designed for another 40 years of operation.
“We were able to reduce the operating temperatures and vibrations of the machines, so that their lifetime has been significantly increased,” says Anton Harris, Managing Director at Voith Hydro in South Africa. This success was mainly based on the international cooperation between the local team in Johannesburg and the engineering department at the headquarters in Germany. During the pandemic, the project schedule was temporarily challenged. “We reacted quickly and accessed the experts at the headquarters in Heidenheim, who would originally have been on site, via remote support, ” Harris continued.
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