The second Danube hydropower plant awaits the year 2014 fully prepared and with all 10 units in operation. – Current activities include detailed inspection of old equipment from the spillway dam, in order to determine the scope of the inevitable reconstruction to follow.
The overhauls season in the HPP “Djerdap 2” began exactly on 27th May and shall be completed by the end of the year. It includes two major repairs of the power units 7 and 8, replacement of the excitation systems on the units A1 and A2, and so-called short, i.e. the first-stage-overhaul of water locks.
In addition to regular preventative maintenance activities, the excitation systems will be replaced on the both currently repaired units A7 and A8. The equipment to be installed is modern and reliable, which will significantly help in maintaining a high level of operational security of the second Danube hydropower plant. The supplier of the equipment is a renowned Belgrade Institute “Nikola Tesla”, with which energy experts from the company “HPP Djerdap” have successfully cooperated for many years.
The overhaul of the A8, which shall be completed in late September, is performed by workers of “Djerdap 2″, who, have worked simultaneously on replacing the excitation system on the unit A2 since the 29th July, which should be finished on 6th September. Replacement of the excitation system on the unit A1 shall be commenced on 30th September.
– As it was said before, by the end of the year a new excitation system will be installed on the A7 during the major overhaul that is scheduled to start on 2nd September – said Mr. Jovan Milovanović , Director of HPP “Djerdap 2″ . – In that way, the cycle of modernization and unification of the control equipment for the basic power plant will be successfully completed, which is an important part of the revitalization, under which much of the outdated hydromechanical and electrical equipment should be replaced in the near future. The neighbors and partners from Romania are already close to the end of this demanding and complex project that will bring in reward an extended life and increase in the efficiency to their part of the shared HPP, thus resulting in producing additional five megawatts per unit, or a total of 50 megawatts.
Other overhaul tasks include the inspection of turbine shafts that either had to be replaced in recent years due to extensive damage, or repaired by reinforcing the transition radius area of the turbine shaft, following a detection of cracks in the area. The inspection checks performed so far proved that this, once a major problem of “Djerdap 2”, was successfully resolved, and what is very important, judging on the basis of the experience of Romania partners, to the extent enabling that the future revitalization will not require replacement of that part of the equipment.
We have learned from our source Mr. Milovanović that current activities include detailed examination of old equipment on the spillway dam, as well as determining the scope of the upcoming inevitable reconstruction, which is a complex, demanding, comprehensive and indispensable project that the staff of the second Danube HPP has to cope with in the near future.
So far, the overhaul activities have been performed on schedule. Maintenance workers are favored by lower level of hydrology, which allows them to perform at the same time greater overhaul tasks on two generators, without negative impacts on the efficiency of available hydro potential of the Danube. Therefore, the estimation that “Djerdap 2″ will enter the year 2014 fully prepared with all 10 units available in the network of EPS power system, whereby maximally and most rationally utilizing hydropower potential of the of Danube River, looks quite certain.
The first stage of the overhaul
In September, along with the overhaul of the A7 and A1 units, workers of “Djerdap 2” are going to carry out the shorter — first-stage overhaul of water locks. It refers to the testing of equipment functionality including any necessary intervention. The aim is to ensure that this part of the complex hydro energy and navigation system of “Djerdap 2” continues smooth and uninterrupted navigation of ships, thus fulfilling very important international obligation of the both Djerdap HPPs.
Source; Serbia Energy/EPS Kwh
