Hydro turbine stay ring starts journey to hydropower station

The stay ring of the world’s first 1,000-megawatt hydro turbine started a month-long journey from Harbin in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province to Baihetan Hydropower Station in Southwest China on Nov 18, one month after it was accepted by China Three Gorges Corporation in Harbin on Oct 17.

The stay ring was disassembled into four parts before being delivered by train and ship.

The stay ring of the 1,000-mW hydro turbine is 17.2-meters long, 14.5-meters wide and about 4-meters high, weighing 500 tons after successful installation. It is one of the most important stressed parts of a pressure turbine.

The 1,000-mW hydro turbines will be installed at the world’s second largest hydropower station.

Baihetan Hydropower Station, which is on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze straddling Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, will be second only to the Three Gorges Dam in terms of total installed capacity when construction is finished.

With installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts based on 16 1,000-mW generators, the project is expected to generate more than 60 billion kW hours of electricity per year. Construction of the main section of the hydropower station started on Aug 3.

Harbin Electrical Machinery Co, a pioneer generator producer founded in 1951, was chosen as the producer of eight 1,000-mW generators and accessories for Baihetan Hydropower Station.

“The stay ring of the 1,000-mW hydro turbine was competed over one and a half years,” said Zhang Rui, chairman of Harbin Electrical Machinery. “The stay ring has improved a lot in terms of its structural layout and design compared with those used in the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station, and this is expected to improve stability,” Zhang added during an interview with Chinanews.com.

Harbin Electrical Machinery started research into 1,000-mW generators 10 years ago. During that period, the generator producer has overcome several global technical barriers, with its main achievements including solving the problems of generator stability, electromagnetism, insulation technology and damage from fatigue. This work helped the producer to win 49 domestic patent licenses, of which, 16 were patents for inventions.

Currently, Harbin Electrical Machinery’s generator technologies are among the most advanced on the market.

The stay ring of the world’s first 1,000-mW hydro turbine at Harbin Electrical Machinery Co’s workshop.[Photo/Chinanews.com]

Technicians check the condition of one part of the stay ring on the world’s first 1,000-mW hydro turbine.[Photo/Chinanews.com]

One part of the stay ring of the world’s first 1,000-mW hydro turbine is lifted onto a truck on Nov 18.[Photo/Chinanews.com]