HyPower
Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation customer magazine

Aug 2007

16

The boom without bounds: China’s engines just starting up
On-site manufacturing I Large machines for a big country

SUMMARY

4

Report34

53

4 China’s engines are just starting up:
The boom without bounds

The historicaldimension

Technologicalleadership

30 A temple, a getaway,
and a luminous town

47 Conferences, seminars and symposia
48 Entering a new era of expertise –IHA World Congress on Advancing
Sustainable Hydropower

Projects

Politics

12 On-site manufacturing –when the workshop comesto the river
18 Large machines for a bighydro country

Focus
Interview
24 Current opportunities
for hydro power in China
China
28 General Site Manager honoredby Shandong Power
29 New Member of Board ofManagement of Voith Siemens
Hydro Shanghai

2

India
34 Sketchbook from a construction
site – Omkareshwar’s unit 1
on the grid
37 First small hydro award in India
Turkey38 A big hydro player on the borderof Europe and Asia
Romania
40 Main erection phase started
in Ipotesti on the Lower Olt
Switzerland
41 Rehabilitation won for Eglisau
Germany
42 Breaking ground for Rheinfelden
Brazil44 São Paulo unit leads consortiumfor Brazilian Estreito
45 Voith Siemens Hydro Brazil
sponsors Abinee TEC 2007
Canada46 New Canadian headquarters
inaugurated

Events50 The road to sustainability for hydropower: value added for hydroProcesses
52 New and global Integrated
Management System

Wave energy
53 First breakwater wave energy plantNews
54 Breakwater Technology
54 Limberg II, Austria
55 Uglich, Russia
55 Ermenek, Turkey
News from the Voith Group56 Historic earnings marks thecompany’s 140th anniversary year
57 Voith’s new head office building
58 Voith Industrial Services
58 Voith Paper
59 Voith Turbo

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerEDITORIAL

Dr. Hubert Lienhard,
Chairman of the Boardof Voith Siemens Hydro
Power Generation

Dear readers, dear partners,
With the world growing at a rapid
pace, a rising demand for natural
resources and climate change as
the leading daily news story, thequestion of future energy supply isfront and center.
Climate change is caused byhumans, according to scientificstudies. Countries – developed or
not – are striving for their optimum
future-oriented energy mix that
also balances sound economics,
a healthy environment and an improved standard of living for its
populations.
All nations want to exploit theirdomestic resources as far as possible. Those countries with richfossil fuel resources do not need tospend a good share of national or
private income for costly imports.
Those with rivers have the potential
to generate hydro power to a large
extent. The avoidance of emissions
has to be weighed heavily in theargument of what other renewable
options could be combined withhydro power.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Spearheaded by China, the solution
to these national energy supply
models is not an easy task. The
need for energy creates projects ofrecord size in countries with vast
resources. It also creates enormous
engineering challenges for solutions
that have never been realized
before. The 1,000 megawatt hydropower unit is in reach.
China shows vigor on its growthpath, however, also meanwhileshows concern about its development, not easily reconcilable withenvironmental and social conditions.
Westerners, especially NGOs, attack
this on a frequent basis and request
more sustainable approaches.
While we certainly cannot takeaway the liberty of political decision,or just ignore these projects, we
can still help promote sustainable
solutions for hydro power projects.
In any event, sustainability will
become an unavoidable part ofproject feasibility and realization.

started to not only promote theapplication of sustainability guidelines as defined by the IHA-set
industry standard. We also offer our
support in advising on these guidelines and their assessment protocol
and are able to relate you to the
network in connection with thisexpertise.
Voith Siemens Hydro – at least – ison its way to safeguard sustainable
solutions in hydro power projects allaround the globe.
If you have any comments or questions, please simply contact me at
Hubert.Lienhard@vs-hydro.com.

Yours

We as equipment suppliers – eventhough we are almost the last party
in the decision and supply chain ofhydro power development – have3

REPORTREPORT

China’s engines are juststarting up: The boom
without bounds

REPORT“There are nine million bicycles in Beijing” as the well-known
Chinese song goes. But the times when bicycles dominatedthe streets of the Chinese capital have passed.

Today, three million cars crowd
the downtown streets and the fivebeltways around the metropolis,
the symbol of rapid growth.
China is booming. It is experiencing
an economic growth never seen
before in the world. Just as large as
the hunger for success, entertainment, and consumables, is the needfor energy. Demand for electrical
power is red-hot, with a rise of consumption in the two digit range inthe mega-cities like Shanghai and
Beijing.
Taking in the view over the Huangpu
River at night for the first time willtake your breath away. Shanghai
is a gleaming spectacle of glowing
facades, blinking advertisements
and radiant slogans.

6

On the river, crowded excursion
boats push their way in front of thecharacteristic skyline, where thefuturistic Oriental Pearl TV-tower
and the gigantic Jinmao Tower
seem to hover over the sea ofskyscrapers. The 21st century’s
pulse is beating faster in modern
day China than anywhere else in
the world and nowhere else but
Shanghai can it be heard so clearly
24 hours a day. The city neverquiets down. It redefines itself daily,
grows, expands and renews itself at
a breath-taking pace. In the Pudong
district, you can literally watch theskyscrapers being built, one rightnext to the other.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerREPORT

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

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REPORT

A power station at the site of the Yellow
River diversion project in Shanxi province.

Linfen is located in the northernChinese province of Shanxi, thecenter of the coal, tar and steel
industries. Linfen is prospering aswell and has its own unique skyline.
But Linfen’s skyline differs from thegleaming coastal metropolis of
Shanghai. Chimneys and pit-frames,
conveyer bridges and blast furnaces
dominate the view. Plumes of steam
billow above the cooling towers andbrownish yellow flue gases float tothe sky from the smokestacks of the
coking plants.

China’s growth requires energy –more than can be covered with thecurrently available capacities ofpower generation. Shanghai’s damp
and warm late spring anticipates thehumid and hot summer months.
Fully air-conditioned office spaces
provide a relief when the sweltering
heat outside makes your shirt stick
to your back the second you leave
the house.

One new coal power plant
every week

Often the temperatures in the sweltering months of July and Augustsoar to well over 40 degrees Centigrade. The state-of-the-art megamalls and fancy designer boutiquesalong Nanjing Road are eager toprovide a cooler atmosphere to theiraffluent customers. However, while
strolling through Shanghai’s business and shopping areas, you canleave the mandatory summer accessory for excessively air-conditioned
malls and movie theaters – thesweater – at home. Shanghai citizens are requested to set their
air-conditioners to a minimum of
27 degrees or higher.

Even at midday, the coal dust
reduces the sun to a small globe,
glowing in shades of orange andred. Motorcycle riders without helmets and pedestrians alike try toprotect themselves with dust masks
from the acrid smog. The provinceof Shanxi has an estimated reserveof 260 billion tons of coal: one thirdof China’s coal deposits. Everyweek a new coal 1,000 megawatt
power plant is connected to thegrid in China.

8

A miner in Changzi, Shanxi province.

Not below 27 degrees
Centigrade, please

If all air-conditioners in the city
are running at maximum capacity
the energy supply cannot keep up.
Thus, in the summer of 2004, theproduction for about 700 businesses
was limited from midnight to 8 am,
plus, 500 businesses had alreadyadjusted their production schedules.
Affected were energy-intensive
businesses, among them steel mills
and cement factories. The Beijing
government imposed a week longholiday on account of hot weather
and raised the price for electricity.
Since then, ample additional energy
production capacity has been added.
However, with growing energy
production, the number of energy
consumption intensive projects rises
too – a vicious cycle, especiallyfrom an environmental point of view,
because about three quarters of theChinese electricity is still produced
from coal. The coal and steel cityof Linfen may be the extreme, butcities where the burning of fossil
fuels darkens the sky with foggy
and sooty flue gases are many,
too many. But China is starting torethink the business of producing
energy.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerREPORT

Construction workers in Shanghai.

The sustainability of economic
development has the highest priority, according to Wu Xiaoling, Vice
Chairwoman of the People’s Bankof China which serves as the Central Reserve Bank. During a forum
on China’s economy in Beijing lastyear, she named a lack of environmental protection as the largest
obstacle on the way to sustainability.

Rethinking begins to become
more environmentally safe
The call for a more environmentallyconscious Gross Domestic Product(GDP), which takes environmental
indicators into account, is getting
louder as the cost of pollution (anestimated 10 % of the GDP) is at thesame level as economic growth.
“Developed countries were able todevelop first and consider the environment later, but China cannot
afford to first pollute the environment and then correct it at a latertime”, stated Pan Yue, Vice President of the State Environmental
Protection Administration.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerIn demand are clean renewableenergy sources with low or – evenbetter – no emissions. As forexample hydro power: With a total
installed capacity of close to 120
gigawatts, China already ranks at
the top worldwide and is planning tostrengthen this position even more.
Electricity production from hydropower is expected to grow by agigantic eight to ten gigawatts
annually until 2020. Furthermore,
China will increase efficiencies of
all its current hydro power stations
and survey small rivers to tap theirhydroelectric potential, especiallyin regions with no coal resources.
The country’s total exploitable hydropower resources are estimated to
be at least 290 gigawatts, ranking
first in the world. The vast majorityof these are concentrated in western regions, such as Sichuan,
Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Gansu
and Qinghai, accounting for about
70 percent of the country’s total.

9

REPORT

Three Gorges Dam, Yichang province.

The capacity of the first powerhouse, with its 14 units at Three
Gorges is 10 gigawatts. In 2003,
the first gigantic turbines were put
into operation. The turbine runners,
weighing 420 tons, in their colossal
concrete spiral cases are propelledby China’s longest river, the Yangtze. It will form a 660 km reservoir
with a lake surface of over 1,000
square kilometers. Next year, when
the project is complete, the watersof the Yangtze will power in total 26
700 megawatt turbines. Then, after
a 16 year construction period theworld’s largest hydro electric power
plant with a 18.2 gigawatt capacity
will be finished. The project will
be completed one year ahead ofschedule and will produce 4.2 gigawatt-hours more than originallyplanned. This clean, renewableenergy will also sate the appetite
for electricity of Shanghai 900 km
away. Not one single gram of carbon
or sulfur dioxide will be emitted.

10

To produce the same amount ofelectricity as Three Gorges, in one
year 60 million tons of coal would
have to be burned in traditional
thermal plants. China also strives
to supply 10 percent of its energy
needs from other alternative
sources like wind, solar energy,
small hydro and biomass.

The power plant Three Gorges
saves 60 million tons of coal
per yearAmong these, wind power plays themost important role. In an interview
with The New York Times Wang
Zhongying, director of China’s
Center for Renewable Energy
Development, explained: “We havehuge goals for wind power development. By 2010, we plan to reach
4,000 megawatts, and by 2020 we
expect to reach 20,000 megawatts,
or 20 gigawatts.”

China will further develophydro energy
Zero emissions, higher efficiency
factors and extended service life
with lower operational costs aresome prime advantages to hydropower plants’ sustainability. It is not
surprising that hydro power is prioritized in the current Chinese FiveYear-Plan over other “fuels”. Presently only about one quarter of theChinese potential capacity is actually being utilized. The Yangtze
alone, with its average flow of
30,000 cubic meters per second,
offers enormous capacity. Only
the Amazon, Congo and Ganges
rivers transport more water to theoceans. But China has a numberof other rivers that do not fall muchbehind in terms of hydro power
potential. Plans are moving ahead
to develop the resources of the
Yellow River and the upper Mekong
as well as the waters of the Langcongjiang, the Yalongjiang, theHong Shui, and the Daduhe.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerREPORT

Three Gorges seen from space.

The boom has reachedthe heartland
With the relocation of energy production to the western provinces,the country’s under-developed
areas gain an enormous amountof importance. Due to the sluices
at the Three Gorges Dam and thesignificantly deepened waterway,
the Yangtze is now navigable forlarge container ships. These can
now travel all the way to Chongqing
at the upper end of the reservoir.
The largest obstacle for growth,
the city’s limited accessibility fromthe prosperous coastal region, hasbeen alleviated. Logistic disadvantages are offset by lower wages
and an attractive settlement policy.
Meanwhile, large car manufacturers
have set up shops in the heartland
metropolis. The population’s increasing spending power attracts theinterest of global retail chains.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Shopping street in Chinese mega-city.

At rapid speed old buildings vanish,
and new ones are erected. At thecity center, modern concrete andglass buildings appear, new officebuildings and shopping malls arechurned out. Huge bill boards
advertise all types of consumer
goods from audio-visual devices tofashion – one could imagine being
in Beijing. The up-and-coming
middle class is heavily courted in
Chongqing as well.

One half billion people with consumer desires equal to thoseof Europeans and Americans willneed to be satisfied. This new classof consumers will continue theChinese economic boom, which will
include the need for energy there.
The times when the country moved
forward at bicycle speed – thatmuch is clear – have definitely
passed.

An end to the growth
is not in sight
About 150 million people make up
China’s middle class. In comparison
to a total population of 1.3 billion,
it does not seem like much, but the
number of residents earning morethan 500 Euros per month is rapidly
rising. The Chinese Academy ofSocial Science estimates that by2020 more than 500 million Chinese
will be counted in this income
bracket.

11

TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

On-site manufacturing –when the workshop comes to the river
China’s economic growth comes with an enormous demandfor energy. The current installed capacity from all energy sources
adds up to 622 GW; however, it is already clear that 1,250 GW
will be required in 2020.

Hydro power plays an importantrole to China’s energy mix wherean additional capacity of 210 GW
within the next 15 years is needed.
While the eastern part of China
is quite developed with regard tohydro power, new projects are being
developed in the western areas.
Yet, the factories and resources
for manufacturing these types ofprojects are located thousands ofkilometers away from the construction sites. An additional challenge
is the sheer size of the newly built
units which makes transportation
almost impossible, regardless of the
distance. That is why Voith Siemens
Hydro does it the other way round:
The workshop itself comes to theriver and manufacturing is done
on-site.
The advantages are obvious: There
are no transportation issues, on-sitemanufacturing may react faster tounforeseen events, and manufacturing capacity increases due to theoption to work on orders simultaneously in multiple locations beyond
the Shanghai main facilities.

12

But do they justify the enormous
effort to build a complete on-site
production facility so far removed
from the corporate infrastructure,
only to remove it afterwards?
Yes, they do, says Voith Siemens
Hydro Shanghai, and relies on
on-site manufacturing in a seriesof projects already.
In a country which is the fourthlargest national economy and theworld’s third biggest trading nation,but, which is – at the same time –the world’s biggest developing
country, around three quarters of
its energy is still generated by coalfired power plants. China has
already joined the Kyoto-protocol,
however, it remains with no committed goal for reductions. Environmental damage now is identified as anencumbering factor for the country’s
national product and was numberedwith approximately 50 billion Euro in2005. By 2020, the country plans toincrease the portion of renewables
to 15 percent of its energy mix,
with its hydro growing part to about
26 percent. But, it neverthelessstruggles with balancing economics,
environment, and society with thisgrowth: And at the forefront of thisfight is also the development ofhydro power.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

13

TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

But, even in China, the opportunities to develop hydro power are notunlimited. In view of the urgency of
increased energy production, China
focuses on ever bigger power plants
and machines.
Ten or twenty years ago, expected
unit capacities were 200 - 300 MW;
today, this figure is three times
higher with runner sizes growing
correspondingly. The 700 MW units
for Three Gorges were just themilestone in size at the time ofstarting the project.

Besides the design challenges
for the engineers, these 700 MW
giants currently in the “pipeline” formany hydro projects create a clear
transportation problem. Today, thetendency is for these to grow close
to 1,000 MW equalling the size of
one coal, nuclear or thermal plant.
So, Voith Siemens Hydro Shanghai
transports the whole workshop to
the river in order to manufacture
the turbines there, directly on-site.
This on-site shop is an extensionof Voith Siemens Hydro’s Shanghai
workshop after all. Here and there,
the same challenges apply.

Foundation for twice theweight of the international
space station ISS

The workshop’s foundation cannot
be overestimated. Just bear in mind
that a single runner may weigharound 400 tons. For comparison:This is the same as a 200 meterlong ICE-train or twice the weightof the international space station
ISS.

Working day and night at Long Tan.

14

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIPLong Tan runner leaving on-site workshop.

In addition, the foundation needs toaccommodate the weight of all material, tools, and material handlingequipment, including an overheadcrane and a stress relief furnace.
Normally, the construction of thesefacilities takes about a year before
manufacturing begins.
A journey of around
20,000 kilometers

The runner crown and runnerband are delivered pre-machined,
whereas the blades arrive on-sitecompletely finished.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Until then, some components have
had quite a long journey: Cast inSão Paulo, shipped 18,500 kilometers to Shanghai by sea, and,from there, delivered on-site overland by truck. Only there does
the actual assembly of the runner
begin: the critical welding. This step
can make up for lost time or ruin
the master schedule. Therefore,
Voith Siemens Hydro attaches great
importance to the training of thewelders who are trained on-site andcertified by their colleagues from
Shanghai.

15

TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIPLong Tan ceremony for runner number one.

Welders and key positions areprovided by Voith Siemens Hydro.
In addition to the site manager, awelding supervisor stays on-site
and is in charge of quality assurance. The on-site manufacturing
facility’s 20 - 25 people work
24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
making cooperation and teamwork
all the more important. Co-workers
often become surrogate families inthese remote sites, so good socialization is almost as important asskill levels.

More precise thana Swiss clock

Exactly as it is done in the Shanghai
workshop, the runner is manufactured in three steps. First, the blades
are positioned and tack welded tothe crown before the actual welding
begins. The welders work in tandems, welding on opposite sidesof the buckets to avoid distortion
through the application of heat.
This demands many years of experience. Examination of the weld
seam’s quality is done continuously.

On-site hall for Xiao Wan project.

16

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

After all, the same standards apply:
Maximum tolerances within a tenth
to a hundredth millimeter are required. Relating to the size, turbines
run with a higher accuracy thanwatches. However, they have adiameter of about eight meters andare 4.6 meters in height. When thewelds are examined and ground,
the runner is stress relieved in theon-site stress relief furnance foraround a week. Afterwards, it ismachined and balanced so that it
rotates vibration-free.

Experience for future trends

China’s boom seems to have noend in sight. And, along the lines
of its energy needs, the everincreasing trend for mega projects
will continue. By end of 2009, Voith
Siemens Hydro will have manufactured 16 massive runners on-site.
With its unrivaled expertise in onsite manufacturing, Voith Siemens
Hydro is poised to play a considerable role in these type of projects
in China and worldwide.

Giants in a headstandKey in the manufacturing process isthe turning of runner. It is turned
upside down and placed in a fixture
so that the welders can work on
nearly inaccessible areas between
the blades. Once these welds arecomplete, however, the runner will
be returned to its proper position as
for assembly. Once fully assembled,
the entire unit is balanced again
with the generator.

• Xiao Lang Di (Yellow River)– Completed:2002– 6 Francis units– Runner diameter: 6.35 m– Rated output:
306 MW– Rated net head: 112 m• Long Tan (Hong Shui River)– 5 of 7 Francis units manufactured
by Voith Siemens Hydro– To be completed in 2009, 3 runners
delivered to date
– Runner diameter: 7.9 m– Rated output:
714 MW– Rated net head: 140 m– serves as model on-site manufacturing
facility for other projects in China.
• La Xi Wa (Yellow River)– To be completed in 2011,
commissioning first unit summer 2008
– 5 Francis units– Runner diameter: 6.9 m– Rated output:
711 MW– Rated net head: 205 m• Xiao Wan (Lan Chang River)– 3 Francis units– Runner diameter: 6.6 m– Rated output:
714 MW– Rated net head: 216 m

AuthorTang Xu
Executive Vice President
and Member of the Boardof Management,
Shanghai, China• Xu.Tang@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Examples of on-site manufacturing
in Voith Siemens Hydro Shanghai• Ji Shi Xia (Yellow River)– 3 Francis units– Runner diameter: 7.65 m– Rated output:
340 MW– Rated net head: 66 m

17

TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

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August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

Large machines
for a big hydro country
Francis turbines represent the most powerful type of hydraulicturbines and the prime movers with the highest efficiencies.
The runners for big Francis turbines belong to the largest andheaviest one-piece mechanical components.

Compared with other types, Francis
turbines have several superiorfeatures: they operate at the highest peakefficiencies
 they can be developed in a wide
range of specific speeds to beinstalled in power stations withheads from below 10 m to above
700 m the runner has no movable parts,
therefore is robust, and needs
little or no maintenance

They reach roughly one third of theprice of the complete turbine andrequire the longest lead time in
the manufacturing process, which
can extend to 24 months or more,among all types of machinery.
It is, therefore, natural that special
attention must be paid when selecting manufacturers of such components.
Voith Siemens Hydro, throughseveral of its plants in particular inGermany, USA, Brazil and China
has accumulated remarkable experience in large Francis runners, withsome very successful milestones.

The runners for big Francis turbines
belong to the largest and heaviest
one-piece mechanical components,
and are the most expensive components, too.

From the beginning, the development of the Francis turbine wasaimed to push the hydraulic andmechanical design to reach higher
outputs, higher efficiencies, smoother operation, to avoid cavitation
damage and to reduce the physicalsize, in order to minimize the costfor civil structure and for the electrical and mechanical equipment.
The challenge in R&D and designof large turbines is the efficient andaccurate prediction of hydraulicperformance, loads, and stresses
acting on the components as wellas the prediction of the dynamic
behavior of the total system.

Voith Siemens Hydro record of Francis
and pump-turbine development.

900
800

Three Gorges(China)Itaipu (Brazil)

700

Longtan(China)P max (MW)

600
500

Segredo (Brazil)

Bath County (USA)

400
300

Paulo

200 Afonso II
100

Gordon(Australia)

0
1960

Guangzhou II(China)IIha Solteira (Brazil)(Brazil)50

Itaparica (Brazil)

Laxiwa(China)Gokcekaya(Turkey)

Dworshak (USA)

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Year

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

19

TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIPWork on a Francis runner.

Today, the use of the most modern
technologies in R&D, design andmanufacture assure a productwhich represents an integrationof all aspects and thus leads to a
design optimized for each special
application.
This goal has pushed the development of highly sophisticated computer tools. The wide application offlow analysis using three dimensional Navier Stokes code and thedevelopment of the combined calculation of the tandem cascadeconsisting of stay vanes and guidevanes, the exact analysis of the flowfrom the guide apparatus into therunner and from the runner into thedraft tube allow tailor-made optimized designs to be developed foreach major project. This achieves
significant improvements in output
and efficiency, compared with thedesigns developed even 10 years
ago.

Three Gorges 3D impression.

The mechanical design also routinely uses today’s methods such as
finite element stress calculation forthe static and dynamic stress analysis of the components to add safety
to the design and avoid the risk ofcracks during operation. With thesetools, and using 3D-CAD systems
and automatic design programs, thedesign of 700 to 1,000 MW-classunits today is routine for an experienced turbine design engineer
team.
The major task today is to meet therequirements of shortened delivery
times and to define and control theproper quality standards and measures required to achieve the soundmanufacturing and the tight tolerances required for high performance levels to be guaranteed.
Many plants today are built inremote areas with limited access,which requires special solutions indesign, logistics and manufacturing.

The machine size driven by large
projects in China through a secondto-none growth in energy demand,
has also driven Voith Siemens
Hydro’s build-up in expertise forthe largest of machines on record.
Voith Siemens Hydro can offer aseries of selected examples from
China, here.
Wu Qiang Xi

At the time of their commissioning,
the turbines for Wu Qiang Xi werethe largest units in operation in
China and were only supersededby the Three Gorges turbines commissioned in 2004. The Wu Qiang Xi
plant is located on the Yuanshui
River, a southern tributary to the
Yangtze River in Central China.
The purpose of the project is, inaddition to electricity generation,
flood control and navigation. There
are five 290 MW units designed fora maximum head of 60.1 meters.
The Francis runners have a maximum diameter of 8.96 meters anda total weight of 255 tons.

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August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

Workshop assembly of Long Tan
distributor.

Overlooking Three Gorges
construction site.

Three of the five runners weretotally fabricated from stainlesssteel in Voith Siemens Hydro’s São
Paulo workshop in Brazil. Also, allrunner blade castings were poured
in Voith’s foundry in São Paulo; twomore runners were welded in China.
The customer decided to use stainless steel blades but mild steel
crowns and bands for these tworunners. To match the metallurgicalrequirements of both materials, thewelding was done using austenitic
electrodes.

The model test was completed atVoith Siemens Hydro in Heidenheim, Germany, in early 1997,
where it achieved 96.02 % of prototype peak efficiency, a record breaking value in the industry for a unit
at this time. Among the special
features of the Xiao Lang Di units
are the ring gates between thewicket gates and stay vanes thatcan be closed to protect the wicket
gates from the high silt content in
the water while the unit is stopped.
The ring gates are lowered andraised through a specially designed
electro-hydraulic system that operates each gate through five synchronized hydraulic servomotors.

Xiao Lang Di

The Xiao Lang Di project is oneof the largest projects built on the
Yellow River, and is located in theHenan province of China. The firstunit was on line by the end of 1999;
the project was completed at theend of 2002. The contract involves
the supply of six complete 6.35
meter diameter Francis turbines.
The units produce 306 MW undera maximum head of 141 meters.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

A noteworthy characteristic of the
Xiao Lang Di units is their erosionresistant hydraulic design and protective coating. Various proprietary
numerical methods were used to
optimize the hydraulic geometry
and identify the areas that would
be subjected to the highest abrasive
action of the 40 kg hard quartz silt
per cubic meter water of the Yellow
River during the flood season.

These areas, which include therunner band and large areas of therunner buckets and wicket gates,
are protected by a tungsten carbide
coating. This coating is sprayed bya robot through a process called
High Velocity Oxy-Fuel Coating,and involves special characteristics
developed by Voith Siemens Hydro
together with the tungsten carbide
powder manufacturer.
Three Gorges

After completion, the Three Gorges
project on China’s Yangtze River
will be the largest power plant in
the world. It is presently in the final
stage of its construction.
The first power house includes
14 units supplied under international competitive bidding and, sincelast year, is fully operational.
Voith Siemens Hydro was selected
as part of the GE-Voith-SiemensConsortium to supply six units, thefirst of them were commissioned
in 2003.

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TECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIPLong Tan stay ring installation.

The big challenge for the design ofthe turbines was, besides the large
physical dimensions of the equipment, in the operation conditions of
the power plant. The multi-purpose
Three Gorges scheme facilitatesriver navigation, electricity generation, and at the same time flood
control.
During most of the year, when thewater is clear, the reservoir level is
kept at an elevation of 175 meters
above sea level and the units operate for maximum power generation.
Before the flood season starts, thereservoir level is reduced to anelevation of 145 meters to reduce
the sediment deposition. At thattime, the units operate at full gate.
The reservoir storage capacity canthen be used to regulate flood waterand ensure the safety of the downstream area.
The hydraulic development of therunner was driven by the challenging demands for a wide head range
and a maximized output at lower
heads.

22

La Xi Wa 3D section.

Long Tan

La Xi WaLong Tan project is located on Hong
Shui River, in Guangxi Province,
and is equipped with seven 714 MW
units under a maximum head of
179 meters. In 2002, the contract
was awarded to Voith Siemens
Hydro and Dong Fang Electrical
Machinery Co. Ltd. for the equipment supply of all seven units.
Voith Siemens Hydro is responsible
for the hydraulic design, model
development and testing as wellas mechanical design. The projectwith a roller compact concrete dam
and an underground powerhouse is
the second-largest project in China
under construction after the Three
Gorges project.

In 2004, the La Xi Wa contract
was awarded to Voith Siemens
Hydro. It includes the supply of five
711 MW turbines under a maximum
head of 220 meters. The La Xi Wa
Project is located on the upstreamof Yellow River, in Qinghai Province.
The project includes a 250 meterarch dam, an underground powerhouse, and it is the biggest projecton the Yellow River.

The main challenges in turbine
design included stable operation
under a wide head range, highefficiency, good cavitation performance, and high power output.
After successful commissioning, thefirst unit was put into commercial
operation in May 2007.

The La Xi Wa hydraulic design andmodel is based on the latest development of Voith Siemens Hydro for
projects of more than 700 MW andheads of over 200 meters. Besides
good hydraulic parameter selection,
comprehensive CFD simulation
and analysis were conducted inVoith Siemens Hydro’s corporate
technology center Brunnenmühle,in Heidenheim, Germany.
The final model acceptance test
results indicated very good efficiency levels, good cavitation performance and low pressure pulsation

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTECHNOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP

Model testing for La Xi Wa.

levels, with good and stable operation characteristics. The first unit will
be commissioned in 2008.

Xiao Wan 3D cross section.

Turbine size, output, head and ringgate design are extreme engineering challenges, resulting in a seriesof special design features.

Xiao Wan

In 2005, after pre-bid competitivemodel tests in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Xiao Wan contract wasawarded to Voith Siemens Hydro
and Dong Fang Electrical Machinery Co. Ltd. consortium, for supplyof equipment split 50/50 between
six 714 MW turbine units and six
ring gates. The Xiao Wan project
is located on the Lan Chang River,in Yunnan Province. Voith Siemens
Hydro was responsible for hydraulicdesign, model testing, and basic
design for the turbines and the ringgates. The first unit is scheduled tobe commissioned in 2009, and all
six units will be completed for commissioning in 2011. It is the firstproject in the world for high output
units (714 MW), designed for ahead over 200 meters with a ringgate.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerFor safe and stable operation,
24 wicket gates and 15 runnerblades were defined in order toavoid risk of rotor stator interaction
and hydraulic force vibration.
The wicket gate, stay vane andrunner blade profile were optimized
for good hydraulic performance andstable operational requirements.
The task of the hydraulic and mechanical design engineer today is tomaintain and improve the performance, widen the operating range
and reduce the influences which
limit the availability of a hydro turbine. Great attention is given to
reduce pressure fluctuations in thedraft tube and the vane-less space.
Such pressure fluctuations create
dynamic forces that can affectmechanical equipment.

Reducing these loads will also
reduce the strain on other components such as bearing, guide apparatus, and draft tube cones. It also
supports the needs of the ownerto increase the availability and tominimize the maintenance cost ofa hydro power plant.
With the rich experience in thedevelopment of high output Francis
turbines above 500 MW, Voith
Siemens Hydro has reached an
extreme level of quality and reliability and is poised to safely provide
turbines with outputs of 900 MW
and beyond.

AuthorMichael Wüst
Manager of Turbine
Product Development
and Basic Engineering,
Heidenheim, Germany• Michael.Wuest@vs-hydro.com

23

INTERVIEW

Current opportunities
for hydro power in China
Interview with Aage Dalsjoe,
President of Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation Shanghai

Aage Dalsjoe,
Voith Siemens Hydro Shanghai
The company is located in the Minhang
district and is a joint venture
between Voith Siemens Hydro Power
Generation and Shanghai Electrical
Corporation (SEC).

What’s Voith Siemens Hydro’s• Aage.Dalsjoe@vs-hydro.com

both Voith and Siemens trace theirat the Shanghai plant?
history in China back to the early/
mid-19 th century. This includes theDalsjoe: The Minhang base became
installation of the very first hydrooperational in 1997 located in an
power machine in China, at Shi Long
area adjacent to the SEC premises,
Ba, Yunnan Province,
which is also involvedin 1909. After this“We offer everything in other areas of power
initial project, Siemens from individual com- generation, such as
supplied the world’s
ponents to completely thermal and nuclear
most powerful generapower. SEC had wanted
customized hydrotors to China in theto add hydro generation
power concepts.”
1930s, and in 1983
to its portfolio. This issupplied machinery for the Lubuge
a green field site, which gives us
project in Yunnan Province, the firstconsiderable freedom to tailorWorld Bank-financed technology
make capacity to meet the needs
transfer project in China.
of China’s hydro power market.

history in China?

technology, solutions and services
in China.

Dalsjoe: As individual companies,

What operations are performed

How did the company growhere and what is its main
purpose in China?
Dalsjoe: Until the 1990s, supply

for Chinese hydro plants camefrom overseas. With the growth involume and magnitude of hydropower projects in China, the firstjoint venture, Shanghai Hydropower
Equipment Co. Ltd. (SHEC) wasestablished in 1994, between Voith
Siemens Hydro Power Generationand the Shanghai Electric Corporation (SEC), to provide hydro power

24

Today, at Minhang, we have astand-alone operation covering all
aspects of hydro power equipment
supply and employ 430 staff insales, project management, engineering, manufacturing and field
service. Due to our location besidethe Huangpu River, we have accessto a 600-ton capacity loading dock,enabling us to directly ship materials and products for hydro power
projects. We are currently expanding our plant in order to increase
our machining capacity but also toincrease generator manufacturing
capacities and capabilities.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerINTERVIEW

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower25

INTERVIEW

We offer everything from individualcomponents to completely customized hydro power concepts, including turnkey delivery of new plants
and modernization of existing power
stations. The basic designs comefrom our technology center inGermany, but beyond that, all ourresources are localized here. On all
our projects, the lead engineer from
Shanghai works in Heidenheim
during the basic design. After returning to China, he is responsible forthe detailed engineering. On someprojects we also work together withother Voith Siemens Hydro operating units.

plants also have a greater lifetime
value. If upgraded, they can be
operational for 60 - 90 years, whereas wind plants average 20 - 25 years
and thermal plants 35 - 40 years.

China is a hungry consumer ofAnd, hydro offers the most efficientmeans of providing this high peakload. China is also developing
8 - 10 gigawatts of new hydro plants
per year, and several of the major
upcoming projects will be as large
as the Three Gorges project. Mostof these are in western China.

power; how can hydro power
be integrated into the national
power strategy?
Dalsjoe: Energy is a basic need for

economic development and growth.
To help meet its rapidly expanding
energy needs, China is prioritizing
the utilization of hydro power, particularly in the western part of thecountry, as well as optimizing thermal power and building new nuclear
and wind turbine plants. Hydro
power has some specific uniquefeatures. It is a clean energy sourcewith no emissions or pollutants; youcan even drink the water after it has
passed through the machine. Hydro

26

Today, as part of improving thenational power grid, China is building new pumped storage plants
along the east coast, which canprovide peak load power at short
notice. Voith Siemens Hydro
supplied the turbines for the first
Chinese pumped storage plant
Gangnan in Hebei in 1967 and otherpumped storage projects later,
including recently completed Tai’An.

Hydro power is very reliant
on advanced technology andhigh-level technical skills.
Has it been difficult to recruitsuitably qualified staff?
Dalsjoe: The Shanghai region has

a strong need for competent people,
especially as more new companies
enter the marketplace.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerINTERVIEW

But, so far, recruitment has not beena limitation for us; however, in thecontext of the global hunt for talents
we feel it is getting harder. A lot of
our engineers have been sent fortraining at our facilities in Europe,
the United States and Brazil. These
training periods vary from between
two months to one year. But you
also have to develop your own local
resources and we have been developing programs for our own local
people. Our plan is to localize management positions; currently the
Head of Manufacturing and myself
are from other countries.
What are the challenges ofbidding and fulfilling hydropower generation contracts
in China?
Dalsjoe: Implementation of such bighydro project requires good teamwork between us as a supplier, thecustomer and the design institutes.
Certain turbine components need to
be delivered early and on schedule
for embedding in the concrete to
avoid delays in the project. For eachproject, we must guarantee performance, which must be demonstrated
by a witnessed model test. On someprojects, we even have to demonstrate the performance tests as
early as during the final bidding
stage.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerThe Shuibuya project in Hubei
Province and Jin Ping II in Sichuan
Province were examples of thispractice, where bidding suppliers
had to undertake a competitivemodel test before the contract wasawarded.
All our projects require a lot ofmaterials, and sourcing these iscurrently a major challenge. For
example, the large, high-quality
castings required are only producedby maybe two or three manufacturers worldwide. Other special components have to be imported andbecause of the high demand forsteel, prices have risen substantiallyin the last two years. Contracts used
to stipulate that high-stress-levelmaterials had to be imported fromoutside, though this is less frequently applied now. Going forward, more
and more materials will be manufactured in China, and our customers
do recognize the increasing qualityof Chinese suppliers.
As China’s economy continues

Dalsjoe: The potential for hydropower development is huge across
China, and in certain parts of South
East Asia, whereas in Europe there
is perhaps only 10 - 15 percent
undeveloped.
Our position gives us a good basis
for taking the company to a 15 percent market share within 2 - 3 years.
Voith Siemens Hydro Shanghai iscurrently involved in several newhydro power projects across China.
What we can offer to our market
with our strong and innovative headquarters in Germany, including R&D
resources, is world-class technology
for turbines and generators in China.
Also, with the investment in the newgenerator electrical workshop, we
now offer the generator to customers who appreciate our full localization of turbines and generators.
They reward us with a series of big
projects to come. So this investment, along with our strong local
team and our support from ourpartner SEC, positions us well inthe market.

to grow, and its energy needs
intensify, what opportunities
open up for Voith Siemens
Hydro?

AuthorBarbara Fischer-Aupperle
Head of Communications,
Heidenheim, Germany• Barbara.Fischer-Aupperle@vs-hydro.com

27

CHINA

General Site Manager
honored by Shandong Power
After commissioning the first pump-turbine for Tai’Anhydro power project last summer, its operator Shandong
Power honored representatives of equipment suppliers.

View of the headwater in Tai’An.

Thirty men and women received
recognition for their outstanding
merits in the execution of the project. Among them was Otto Kienle,
Voith Siemens Hydro’s General Site
Manager for Tai’An hydro power
project, who is the first foreign
national to whom Shandong Power
has ever awarded a prize.
Tai’An pumped storage power
station has now started commercial
plant operation and was celebrated
with a solemn festivity. The power
plant in the Shandong Province,
600 kilometers south-east of Beijing,
is equipped with four complete
machine sets each rated at 255 MW,
including reversible pump-turbines,
motor-generators and their respective control systems. In Shandong,a region of strong economic growth,
the power station and its contribution to a reliable and stable grid
operation is of strategic significance.

28

Otto Kienle at the award ceremony.

The uninterrupted trial run under
different modes, followed by dewatering and inspections, paved theway for completion of the turnkey
power plant not only in a challenging environment but also with acomprehensive scope of supply.
Commissioning was a joint effortof Voith Siemens Hydro in China,
Japan and Germany under a very
tight schedule.

AuthorMarie-Luise Leonhardt
PR and Communications
Coordinator,
Heidenheim, Germany• Marie-Luise.Leonhardt@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerCHINA

New Member of Boardof Management of Voith
Siemens Hydro Shanghai

Tang Xu joined the Management
Board in Shanghai.

Mr. Tang Xu has been appointed
Executive Vice President and Member of the Board of Managementof Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation Shanghai, China. Tang Xu
joined the Chinese Voith Siemens
Hydro operating unit in March 2001
as Marketing Manager and was
appointed Vice President Marketingin November 2004. His efforts haveessentially contributed to the securing of a series of very large hydropower projects in China over the last
five years for Voith Siemens Hydro
Shanghai.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerHe received his Bachelor of Science
degree in Material Engineering fromthe North-East Engineering University in Shengyang in 1982 and inElectronic Engineering for Mechanical Application in the Electronic
Science University in Chengdu in
1994. He earned his Executive MBA
degree in the Shanghai Jiao Tong
University in 2005. Previously heworked for a Chinese company asa Deputy Manager for International
Operation and as Director in the
Sanxia Project Office from 1995 to
1998. He worked for western companies in China and Canada, asMarketing Manager and Project
Sales Manager from 1998 to 2001.

AuthorBarbara Fischer-Aupperle
Head of Communications,
Heidenheim, Germany• Barbara.Fischer-Aupperle@vs-hydro.com

29

THE HISTORICAL DIMENSION

A temple, a getaway,
and a luminous town

30

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

THE HISTORICAL DIMENSION

Karl Mustière in 1927, 16 years after
returning from his business trip to China.

A villager crossing a bridge with farm animals
near Lamaden, Yunnan, China.

The adventures of Voith engineer Karl Mustière
and the first-ever hydro turbine in China.
There was a time when Karl
Mustière longed for the simple
things in life: a long winter evening,for example, or a sip of ice-coldwater. “Can you even imagine what
it’s like?”, the engineer wrote in a
letter to one of his friends. Probably
not. He was writing in 1910, at atime when the world was still relatively placid. Two years after joining
Voith, 34-year-old Karl Mustière
had taken on an assignment that, in
those days, was really quite adventuresome: he was to supervise theconstruction of a power plant andthe assembly of the hydraulic equipment to be installed there – the firstever hydroelectric power plant in
China, to be known as Shilongba,
in the province of Yunnan.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Mustière’s presence on site wasone of the terms negotiated inVoith’s contract. And with goodreason: it was a first for both Voith
and the country of China. Not only
was it the first time Voith had eversupplied this far away land with ahydroelectric turbine; it was China’s
first ever hydroelectric power plant.
Shortly before, the Augsburg-bornengineer had made a name forhimself through the constructionof a Pelton turbine in the Brunnenmühle, Voith’s Corporate Technology Facilities in Heidenheim, where
hydraulic research continues today.
(Incidentally, this turbine is stillin use today.) A specialist from
Siemens-Schuckert took care of
the electric portion of the China
project.

“Scrambling around the mountainside at 35 - 40 degrees Centigradein the shade taking measurements
is not what I consider to be oneof life’s many pleasures,” wrote
Mustière. “And with no paths – thewhole area is overgrown with thickshrubs that need to be cleared orburned before you can get throughwith the instruments.”
In his diary, Mustière not only documents the events leading up to thecommissioning of Shilongba in the
town of Yunnanfu, which initiallycomprised two Francis turbineseach with an installed output of
700 kilowatts; there are also many
entries in which he describes at
length his everyday life and culture
shock in the then technologically
undeveloped province of Yunnan.

31

THE HISTORICAL DIMENSION32

In 1937, this 950 HP Francis spiralturbine replaced the one deliveredby Karl Mustière.

Re-visiting: Yunnan delegationin Heidenheim in October 2006.

Today, 50 million people populate
this region and their living and working environment creates an enormous demand for energy. As is
so often the case at Voith, the linkwith the region remains strong:in October 2006, almost a century
after Karl Mustière’s undertaking
in Asia, a five-person team of government delegates from Yunnan
headed to Voith Siemens Hydro in
Heidenheim. The company is currently in the process of supplying
the Xiao Wan hydroelectric power
plant in the Yunnan province withthree 714 MW Francis turbines.
China’s thirst for energy to fuel its
vigorous development is reflectedin the decision-making levels of theprovinces: the provincial govern-

ment of Yunnan has set itself thetarget of developing its industrial
infrastructure and undoubtedly, byextension, of stepping up electricity
generation – to a large part bymeans of hydro power. This Chinese
province is rich in natural resources.
Yunnan is home to three large Asianrivers: the Mekong, the Salween
and the Jinsha. All three have theirsources in the vast Tibetan plateau
and run alongside one anotherthrough the north-western part ofthe province, towards south-east
Asia. The three rivers are estimatedto be capable of producing around
100 gigawatts of power. That isequal to the installed output of every
power plant in Germany combined!

But we digress. Let’s return to Karl
Mustière, who not only demonstrated the creativity and determination
characteristic of Voith engineers
in one of the company’s first international projects at the start of the20th century; he also rose to somemore universal challenges. He was
faced with snakes, endless rain,
debilitating heat during the day andcold at night. He experienced his
first stay in an old Buddhist temple,
was confronted with unfamiliar unitsof measurement when it came tomixing cement and, after dark, faceda very personal, existential crisis:“Mosquitoes, the specters of thenight, advance in great swarms.”

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

THE HISTORICAL DIMENSIONThis Augsburg boy soon learned to
improvise, however, and built himself a brick stove in the temple, “sothings are much cosier.” This was
not the only pleasure experienced
by Mustière in these foreign surroundings. He also enjoyed thereception for the viceroy of Yunnan,
the construction of a “fashionable
Chinese dwelling alongside thepower house” and the lush vegetation after the rains: “You could
almost hear the grass grow.” And
the temperatures even dropped,“making these the most magnificent
days that I have spent here so far.”
Nevertheless, Mustière was subject
to certain social norms which still
reigned at that time.

Old machine section of Shi Long Ba backin the beginning of the 20th century.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerA single man was considered
immoral, so during his stay in themulti-ethnic province of Yunnan,
he married a Vietnamese womanfrom the mountains.
His temporary wife took care of
the house and stood by him as thebalance of power in China abruptly
shifted. At the time of the great
revolution, which brought down theempire and led to the birth of theChinese republic, the couple fled
to the seaport of Hanoi, which wasthen under French rule. They madetheir getaway on a handcar, a thencommonplace, two-wheel vehicle
with no pedals that would only travel
as fast as you could run.

Peace then resumed in China.
Karl Mustière returned to Yunnanfu
and saw to it that the power plant
was completed, and was readyfor operation on January 1, 1911.
The town of Yunnanfu was electrified – Yunnanfu shone brightly.
Not long after the First World War,the Chinese built a second hydroelectric power plant using turbinesfrom Voith. Karl Mustière returned
home in the fall of 1912, back to his
long, cold winter nights and friends
who were eager to hear of theincredible experiences accumulatedon this trip.

Modern 3D section of Xiao Wan project
located in Yunnan Province.

33

INDIA

Sketchbook from a construction site –Omkareshwar’s unit 1 on the gridOmkareshwar, India, March 12, 2007, 12.30 pm local time.
The daily phone call between the customer and the Lead Engineer
for Commissioning at the site: “Don’t worry, the site staff has yourtarget schedule fully under control.”Music in the ears not only for thecustomer Narmada Hydroelectric
Development Corporation (NHDC)
but for everybody involved as thecommitment and the motivation

34

level of the whole team and especially the Voith Siemens Hydro Field
Service troop has been extraordinary over the last three years.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerINDIA

Cutback. Madhya Pradesh,

End of January 2007.

Bhopal, India, July 18, 2003.

An ambitious schedule is drawn
up for the delivery of eight units forthe 520 MW Omkareshwar hydropower plant in the state of Madhya
Pradesh, Central India. 48 months
contractual execution time for aturnkey plant of such a size is a
tough job, considering difficultand complex working conditions
on the site at the Narmada River.
Three manufacturing hubs of Voith
Siemens Hydro on three different
continents need to be coordinatedand equipment supplied from thesehas to be shipped to central India
under extreme logistic difficulties.
Some small surprises are unavoidable in such a tour de force.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

However, the inauguration ceremony for the commencement oferection of the first unit is held two
and a half years later in April 2006.
This is the first time the project
team realizes there could be a small
chance to get ahead of schedule.
At full speed, a so-called “earlycommissioning schedule” is developed. Its target: The first unit shallbe in operation by end of March
2007, some four months aheadof schedule. Impossible to achieve
without a sound project management and dedicated support of all
disciplines from engineering andsupply management.

With the erection activities well on
time, the pre-commissioning andtesting starts with the complete
electrical common plant including
the 220 kV switch yard. A fullfledged commissioning team is at
the site, deployed since end of 2006
to ensure the smooth testing of thepower unit under the responsibilityof Germany’s Voith Siemens Hydro
Kraftwerkstechnik together with theelectrical balance-of-plant package
under the responsibility of Voith
Siemens Hydro India. The following
weeks, the pre-testing and commissioning phase, are filled with numerous interlinks to the consortium
partner Jaiprakash Associates andthe customer NHDC.

35

INDIA

Then on March 30, 2007:

July 21, 2007.

the setback.

Unexpected for NHDC and theconsortium, a stay order from High
Court of Madhya Pradesh defers
the reservoir filling by approximately
three months. Notwithstanding
the unexpected interruption, Voith
Siemens Hydro Field Service proceeds with dry commissioning atfull speed. What was hard to believein the beginning turned step bystep into reality and between Marchand June six units were ready for
wet commissioning and generationof power.

36

The big moment for the project
arrived on July 7, 2007 when power
unit 1 was turned for the first timeto the satisfaction of the customer
as well as of Voith Siemens Hydro’s
German R&D facility Brunnenmühle
and the involved operating units
in India, Brazil and Germany.
After synchronizing the unit to thegrid of the state Madhya Pradesh,
Omkareshwar’s power unit 1 isable to deliver power into the gridfor the first time on July 21, 2007.
The other units will follow on a three
weeks basis. With 48 months inreach for a whole turnkey plant:a record time.

Authors
Werner Kellner
General Project Manager,
Heidenheim, Germany• Werner.Kellner@vs-hydro.com
Sumeet Mazumdar
Project Manager,
New Delhi, India• Sumeet.Mazumdar@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerINDIA

View of the snow capped Himalayas.

First small hydro award in India
Voith Siemens Hydro India has been awarded its first smallhydro contract. 15 Francis units for five projects will be delivered
until May 2008.

Voith Siemens Hydro will deliver
a total of 15 horizontal Francis
turbine generator sets for fiveprojects (each with three 1.5 MW
units) to the independent power
producer, M/s Subhash Projects& Marketing Limited, for projects
located in the valley of Palampur,
Himachal Pradesh in northern India.
The commissioning of these projects is scheduled for May 2008.
India’s small hydro power potential is estimated at 15,000 MW.
420 small hydro plants are alreadyin operation with a total installedcapacity of 1,423 MW.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerAn additional 287 are under construction and more than 4,000
projects are in the planning phase.
Most of the upcoming projects arebeing developed by so-called independent power producers becauseof the Indian government’s plans
to develop small hydro projects
through private sector participation.

AuthorAmresh Dhawan
Managing Director,
New Delhi, India• Amresh.Dhawan@vs-hydro.com

India currently runs an electrification program called “Power for all”
which aims at supplying all Indianvillages with electricity by 2012.
This electricity is desperately needed especially in the more rural
regions as India’s economic growthrate runs at nine percent.

37

TURKEY

Jürgen Sehnbruch, Executive Vice President, Corporate Sales andMarketing (middle), with the team of Voith Siemens Hydro Ankara.

Turkey – a big hydro playeron the border of Europe and Asia
For more than 50 years, Turkey has been one of the mostimportant markets for Voith Siemens Hydro St. Pölten.
Around 60 Turkish hydro power plants have been equippedby the Austrian unit of Voith Siemens Hydro.

In order to offer closer proximity to
its customers Voith Siemens Hydro
St. Pölten has established a Turkish
subsidiary in Ankara, which was
inaugurated in May of this year.
The ceremony was attended byAustrian Ambassador Dr. Heidemarie Gürer, Austrian Commercial
Counsellor Richard Bandera andrepresentatives of Turkish authorities, customers and consultants.
“We deliver up-to-date and longterm reliable solutions and technology in the true sense of a partnership: innovative, reliable, fair andtrustworthy”, emphasized Jürgen
Sehnbruch, the company’s Executive Vice President for Sales andMarketing: “With these core valuesof Voith and Voith Siemens Hydro
the new team has come to stay –and to support you with Engineered
reliability.”

38

In Ankara, seven staff members
primarily work on small hydro power
stations but coordinate larger projects as well. Furthermore, they
provide sales and marketing,sourcing and project management
support for their Austrian colleagues. Thirteen different projects
in various stages of execution are
currently handled in Ankara, including the Borçka hydro power plant,
inaugurated recently by Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan.
The 300 MW power plant on theÇoruh River in the northeastern partof the country has been built by
national utility DSI State HydraulicWorks.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTURKEY

At the push of a button: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan starts operation of Borçka hydro power plant.

The plant is equipped with two Voith
Siemens Hydro Francis turbines,
producing 1,039 GWh of energy per
year. The order value was around
26 million Euro.
According to the Prime Minister in
his inauguration statement hydropower is Turkey’s most importantenergy resource. “Today, its shareis 36 percent of the Turkish energy
mix. If the necessary measures
are not taken immediately, energy
shortages could be a trouble for allof us. Therefore, we are taking precautions rapidly”, he emphasized.
He affirmed to further support hydropower generation.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Hydro power plant Borçka on the Çoruh Riverin northern Turkey.

Borçka was developed under abilateral agreement between Austria
and Turkey. It will be the penultimate
power plant in the Çoruh basin,
northeast of the Black Sea, built by
DSI. The consortium consisted ofAndritz VA Tech Hydro, Verbundplan(PÖYRY), Strabag, Voith Siemens
Hydro Austria and local Turkish
partners.

Country information• Turkey is a promising hydro power
market for several reasons. The energy
sector has been privatized since 2001,
power consumption increases about
seven to eight per cent per year and thegovernment has a strong policy in place
for renewables with financial incentives.
With only a third of the hydro power
potential under development, therealization of another 13,000 MW isconsidered feasible.

AuthorDr. Artur Pfeiffer
General Manager,
Antalya, Turkey• Artur.Pfeiffer@vs-hydro.com

39

ROMANIA

Dismantling of the runner hood.

Dr. Lienhard meeting Darius Mesca, State Secretary,
Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Main erection phase started:
Ipotesti hydro power plant on the Lower Olt River
The start of the main assembly phase of Ipotesti hydro power plantmodernization was celebrated with an impressive ceremony.
Located on the Lower Olt River near Slatina in Romania, the hydropower station is being refurbished by a consortium acting as general contractor with Voith Siemens Hydro as consortium leader andAndritz VA Tech Hydro.

This turnkey project does not only
include the supply of state-of-the-art
bulb pump-turbines with an output
of 14 MW each, but also of all
corresponding auxiliary equipment,
as well as local and remote control
systems. Ipotesti is part of therefurbishment of all hydro mechanical equipment in each of the fivehydro power plants on the Lower Olt
downstream of Slatina. The project
scope includes a total of twenty
machines to be commissioned by
September 2010.
The arrival of the first new turbine
and generator at the Ipotesti hydropower plant prompted a good reason for the ceremony.

40

Romanian officials of the Ministry of
Economy and Finance, Dr. Hubert
Lienhard, Chairman of the Board ofVoith Siemens Hydro and the Management of Hidroelectrica S.A. as
well as representatives of the local
authorities witnessed the unloadingof the main components ready forfinal assembly and installation.
This step was a milestone in theLower Olt Project. Preparations forthe project design and engineering
had started as early as 2003. Twoyears later, the basic design was
finalized, while the contractor’s onsite infrastructure facilities wererealized in 2006 in order to begin
the final phase of work.

While attending the ceremony
Dr. Lienhard pointed out that heconsiders this refurbishment project
as a top priority project in Romania’s electricity generation fromhydro, and that the company intends
to assist also in other modernization
projects, such as Islaz hydro power
plant, connecting the Lower Olt
Cascade to the Danube, the refurbishment of Lotru hydro power plantand other hydro projects.
AuthorJosef Gaschl
Head of Project Management,
St. Pölten, Austria• Josef.Gaschl@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerSWITZERLAND

167.054

Sectional drawing of Eglisau comparing theturbine before and after the rehabilitation.

Aerial view, Eglisau.

Rehabilitation contract won
for Swiss power plant Eglisau
Voith Siemens Hydro was recently awarded a contract to deliver
the electromechanical equipment for the rehabilitation of theEglisau hydro power plant of Kraftwerke Eglisau-Glattfelden AG,
a subsidiary of the Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG.

By 2012, the Heidenheim-based
Voith Siemens Hydro Kraftwerkstechnik will deliver seven 6.7 MW
Kaplan turbines, generators andgovernors as well as the complete
control package. The new Kaplan
units will replace seven Francis
turbines which began operation
between 1915 and 1921. Originallyeach of these Francis turbines
had an output of 4.6 MW. Being ahistorical landmark, this project isconsidered a special challenge interms of changing of turbine type,but also of preservation obligations
for the plant and its architecture.
Much of the plant’s technical equipment is still in its original state of1920 and shall be preserved in its
entity.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerIn its more than 85 years of operation, Eglisau hydro power station
produced more than 20 billion kWhof electricity. Using Kaplan turbinesinstead of the previous Francis
units, increases the flow rate from
385 m3/s to 500 m3/s. Thus, annual
performance can be raised by abouta third from 246 to 314.5 GWh.
This will be enough electricity topower around 80,000 households.

AuthorPeter Bührer
General Project Manager,
Heidenheim, Germany• Peter.Buehrer@vs-hydro.com

41

GERMANY

Breaking groundfor Rheinfelden
It was with a symbolic cut with a spade that Energiedienst AG,
the German owner of Rheinfelden hydro power plant, with all
project partners celebrated the start of construction of the new
power house.

The February ceremony marked
the beginning of the final stage ofthe modernization project – fivemonths earlier than scheduled.
A consortium lead by Voith Siemens
Hydro has been awarded the contract to supply turbines and generators. Swiss Alstom Hydro AG is
Voith Siemens Hydro’s consortium
partner.
Rheinfelden construction sitein December 2006.
(Courtesy of Energiedienst AG)

42

The new Rheinfelden complex,
estimated at 380 million Euros, iscurrently the largest investment inrenewable energies in Germany.
The new plant will be equipped withfour 25 MW Kaplan turbines for the
mandatory water release. The efficiency tests were successfully
conducted in the hydraulic laboratory in Heidenheim in June 2007.
All performance garantees had
been met.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerGERMANY

Voith Siemens Hydro‘s team with representativesof Energiedienst AG and Fichtner Consulting during
the model acceptance test.

Start up for these new units isscheduled for 2010. With a total of
100 MW of installed capacity, theperformance of the newly-built plant
will be four times the current plant
capacity. Average annual production
will be raised from 185 million kWh
to 600 million kWh, serving demandof approximately 170,000 households.

Commissioned in 1898, the electricity generated by this plant significantly contributed to industrialization and build-up of economic infrastructure as well as improving thestandard of living in the entire
region. The new plant, now underconstruction, will utilize to a muchhigher degree the enormous renewable potential of the power of water.

The Rheinfelden hydro power plant
is located on the Rhine River thatmarks the border between Switzerland and Germany. The plant was
the first large hydroelectric power
plant in Europe’s history of energy
generation.

Since 1928, Voith Siemens
Hydro has regularly serviced thispower plant and looks forward tocontinuing its 80 year customer
relationship.

AuthorKarsten Horn
Project Manager,
Heidenheim, Germany• Karsten.Horn@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower43

BRAZIL

São Paulo unit leads consortiumfor Brazilian Estreito
Voith Siemens Hydro leads the construction consortium for the
supply and erection of electromechanical equipment, as well as
the management of the Estreito hydro power plant project in theBrazilian State of Maranhão.

As part of Brazilian government‘s
growth strategy, the power plant will
have a total capacity of 1,087 MW.
The first among the eight generating units is scheduled for commercial operation in June 2010.
The turnkey contract, worth over
one billion Brazilian Reais, wassigned on February 1, 2007. The
Kaplan turbines, governors, automation, protection system, mechanical auxiliary equipment, main transformers and group circuit breakers
will be supplied from Brazil’s manufacturing facilities in São Paulo.

Voith Siemens Hydro is also responsible for the integration engineering, erection and overallmanagement of the project. Alstom,
Voith Siemens Hydro’s partner, is
responsible for the supply of generators, hydromechanical and lifting
equipment, and electrical auxiliary
equipment.

The Investor Consortium (CESTE),
consisting of the Suez Energy,
Companhia Vale do Rio Doce,
Alcoa SA and Camargo Corrêa
Energia SA companies, pursues
two purposes with its enterprise:
generation of electric power to be
traded and supply of electricity totheir own industrial plants.

Brazilian CEO Osvaldo San Martin
personally headed negotiations forthis milestone project. Noteworthy
is the challenge of the design,
manufacture, transport and erectionof eight of the largest Kaplan turbines produced in the world so far.
Each 139 MW Kaplan runner hasa diameter of 9.5 meters.

AuthorLuiz Gabelini
Estreito Project Director,
Sao Paulo, Brazil• Luiz.Gabelini@vs-hydro.com

44

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerBRAZILTadêu Azevedo during his presentation.

The conference team with Osvaldo San Martin (middle),
President of Voith Siemens Hydro Brazil.

Voith Siemens Hydro Brazil
sponsors Abinee TEC 2007
Voith Siemens Hydro Brazil sponsored one of the most important events in the Brazilian electric and electronic sector –Abinee TEC 2007. It was promoted by the Brazilian Associationof the Electric and Electronic Industry. The event ran from
April 23 to 27, in the country’s capital São Paulo.

Companies from all over the world
exhibited their innovations in equipment and solutions, during thesimultaneous course of the 24th
FIEE Elétrica (International Fair ofElectric, Energy and Automation
Industry) and the 4th ElectronicAmericas (International Fair of
Components, Laser and Optoelectronic Technology and Instrumentation).

Voith Siemens Hydro São Paulocontributed to technical sessions on
April 25, 2007 with a presentation
entitled “Kaplan and Bulb turbines:
the future of the projects in Brazil”.

AuthorRenata Presta
Communication Coordinator,
São Paulo, Brazil• Renata.Presta@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower45

CANADA

Gathered for the inauguration of the Canadian headquarters from left to right:
Denys Turcotte, President and CEO of the company in Canada; Jörg Metger,
Consul General of Germany in Montréal; Jean-Marc Pelletier, Mayor of Brossard,and Dr. Hubert Lienhard, President and CEO of Voith Siemens Hydro.

New Canadian headquarters inaugurated
Voith Siemens Hydro officially opened its new Canadian
headquarters in Brossard, Greater Montréal, in the presenceof business and industry leaders, government representatives,
and the company’s senior management.

The inauguration was held under
the patronage of Mr. Jörg Metger,
Consul General of the Federal
Republic of Germany in Montréal,
who declared: “Canada is a tophydro power producer and Québec
is a world leader in the field; therefore, it is only natural that Voith
Siemens Hydro would choose to
set up shop here, develop its network of suppliers, and consolidate
its expertise. The presence of thissymbol of German technologicalexcellence contributes to reinforcing
the partnership, and economic andcommercial relations between our
two countries.”

46“Voith Siemens Hydro is a wellestablished player in the hydropower sector in Europe, SouthAmerica, Asia, Australia, and theUnited States. By establishing
Canadian headquarters on theMontréal South Shore, we canproudly state that we are present
in all major hydro power markets
in the world,” said Denys Turcotte,
President and CEO of the new
Canadian company.
A leader in hydro power equipment
and services, the company is
responsible for having built andinstalled close to one third of theworld’s hydro power turbines andgenerators.

Voith Siemens Hydro strengthens
its presence in Canada with thisnew head office. Today, 50 people
work for Voith Siemens Hydro in
Brossard, Québec, and 125 arelocated at the manufacturing plantin Mississauga, Ontario.

AuthorPierre Seguin
Head of Marketing,Montréal, Canada• Pierre.Seguin@vs-hydro.com

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerEVENTS

Conferences, seminars
and symposia
Date/Event

Further information

July 23 - 26, 2007

Wave Power in Europe – The contribution of Voith Siemens Hydro

Waterpower XV(discussion panel)

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Dr. J. Weilepp/Voith Siemens Hydro, Germany
Simulation of overload-surge pressure and power oscillations
at a pumped storage power plant

Dr. J. Koutnik/Voith Siemens Hydro, Germany
Field Machining – Rehabilitation of hydro turbine embedded
components

S. M. Perry/Mechanical Engineer & Project Manager, Weld Mart

October 15 - 17, 2007

Small Francis turbines working with a wide range of head variation

Hydro 2007

C. Aguerre/Voith Siemens Hydro, Spain, L. Félez Gutiérrez/Endesa

Booth No. 70 and 74
Granada, Spain

Hydro generator uprating/upgrading with requirements
for intermittent operation

L.-E. Kämpe/Voith Siemens Hydro, Sweden (VG Power)
Progress on wave power at Voith Siemens Hydro

Dr. J. Weilepp/Voith Siemens Hydro, Germany
www.hydropower-dams.com

October 22 - 25, 2007

CIGRE Study Committee D1 and A1, Korea National Committee

CIGRE Joint Colloquiumof CIGRE, KIEE and C Societyon Insulation Systems

http://www.cigre-a1.org/Site/Events/download/CIGRE_A1-D1_2007_
Korea_CFPID32VER14.pdf

for Electrical Machines

Kyenongju, South Korea

November 6 - 7, 2007

Adapting to Change, Creating Change – organized by the Canadian

Forum on Hydropower

Hydropower Association

Ottawa, Canada

www.canhydropower.org

November 11 - 15, 2007

World Energy Council

20th World Energy

www.rome2007.it
IHA paper on hydro power

Council Congress

Rome, Italy

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower47

EVENTSIHA President
Prof. Dr. H. Doǧan Altinbilek.

Alessandro Palmieri, World Bank,
chaired the panel on national perspectives.

Entering a new era of expertise –IHA World Congress on Advancing
Sustainable Hydropower
The event, convened by the International Hydropower Association (IHA) from May 29 - 31, 2007, in Antalya, Turkey, along with
35 partner organizations turned out to be an extremely valuable
one. IHA, as the voice of the hydro industry, had assembled anagenda and set of speakers which certainly brought a new
approach to such meetings.

The growth potential of renewables
with their major contribution of
reducing emissions for the future
generation mix as almost contradictory drivers were under scrutiny.
In a series of sessions the answer
to the question with what rateof progress this would take place
could only be answered with“Act now!”
With sustainability criteria at theheart of the conference, IHA
achieved another major step inthe recognition of its Sustainability
Guidelines and Sustainability
Assessment Protocol.

48

A workshop on the Guidelines andthe Assessment Protocol was held
as a pre-conference training coursewith an impressive number ofparticipants of around 70 from allnations.
But also during the conference, theGuidelines and the Protocol wereviewed to be so far the best of allavailable frameworks for implementation of sustainability practice.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerEVENTS

Solutions-oriented NGOs such as
The new and opened view at opporthe Nature Conservancy and WWF
tunities and drawbacks was theInternational expressed their view
overriding result, despite the factthat the IHA guidelines constitutedthat International River Networks
the best basis with which to work
tried to draw attention to its obvious
towards certification and speaking
and complete anti-dam approach
one common language on sustainwith a few protesters carrying aability of hydro power stations. Also
big banner. The clear consensus
the many panelists andthrough the confer“We are goingparticipating audience
ence was the common
fromcompensationembraced the broadest
approach with systemto benefit sharing.”
range of key stakeholdrelating solutions anders from civil society, government,
early, balanced involvement of all
business and industry. They explostakeholders. Even if one does not
red and confirmed the opportunities
like dams, as David Harrison ofof sustainable hydro power accordNature Conservancy emphasized
ing to future contexts and expectaagain and again: “It is not about
tions: “We are going from compenmore dams or no more dams.
sation to benefit sharing” and “Let’s
There will be dams. But the quesmove forward and achieve sometion is how many, where, and whichreal results” as well as the goal toones, and with which functionalities.
find “the balance between locations
We can do better and solve thefor hydro power stations with miniproblems and – even for the sakemum ecological impact and maxiof economy – use the synergies
mum economic benefits needs to be between environment and hydroapproached” were just a couple oflogical flows.”
strong statements.

Workshop discussion.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

AuthorBarbara Fischer-Aupperle
Head of Communications,
Heidenheim, Germany• Barbara.Fischer-Aupperle@vs-hydro.com

Dr. Jochen Weilepp
presenting on ocean energies.

49

POLITICS

The road to sustainability for hydro power:
value added for hydro power through IHA“A point has been reached in history when we must shape
our actions throughout the world with a more prudent carefor their environmental consequences.”
United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP) 1972

The start of consciousness of
having to develop the world and its
resources in a sustainable way
begins as far back as the Seventies.
The Club of Rome 1972 report thencertainly was the first important
report to reach a wide public audience on the fact that exploitation of
the globe’s resources are overdoing
the pace they can be “re-newed” or“sustained”.

Important dates in history
for sustainable development.

1970

A further event in the follow-up
series of building new consciousness was the 1972’s UNEP annual
report for its program on environment. Concrete sectors like energy
and water came later. A United
Nations conference on Water in1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina,stated that “…relatively little importance has been attached to water
resources systematic measurement.
The processing and compilation ofdata have also been seriously
neglected.”

1972

1992

2002

UN Conference
on the Environment,
Stockholm,
Club of RomeEarth Summit, Rio

World Summit
on Sustainable
Development,
Johannesburg

1987

Brundtland
Commission
1980

1990

2000

1992

1997

ClimateConvention

Kyoto Protocol

CSR — Corporate Social Responsibility
Economic, social and environmental performance
Environmental Protection
Slow down growth and protect the environment

50

Sustainable Development

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerPOLITICS

Looking at the list of succeeding
events, one can see how sustainability grew not only by definitions,but also by merging into the mind
set of global activities in business,environment and social development through multi-national organizations.
But one should also reflect in thisreview what the International Hydro
Association has accompanied or
moved forward in a series of efforts
within events and guideline development for hydro power to stay inthe boat among renewable energy
generation overall. By the time
when energy generation from fossil
fuels was seen as exhaustible andalso a threat in terms of pollution,hydro power did not gain recognition as a solution, as expected.

2004

2006

IHA
Sustainability
Guidelines

IHA
Sustainability
Assessment
ProtocolOn the contrary, it was regarded as
critical in its obligation to fulfill thetri-chord of sustainability or evenmore than that by many an NGO.
After the IHA World Congress on
Sustainable Hydro Power, one
should, therefore, maybe reflect on
the situation as it would be without
all these efforts. We are not at apoint where we can stop to develop
more approaches in defense ofhydro and its sustainable implementation.
In order to strengthen IHA’s position, a major recruiting initiative has
been started. With the goal to havemore corporations in the hydroindustry consider what their personal or corporate contribution
should be. If you are not a member,
it is time to think about joining.

It is everybody’s environment andhydro business that benefits from ajoint and forceful action to let hydroplay the role it should play: clean,large-volume, multi-purpose, multibenefit, renewable and sustainableenergy for this globe.

AuthorBarbara Fischer-Aupperle
Head of Communications,
Heidenheim, Germany• Barbara.Fischer-Aupperle@vs-hydro.com

2007

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower51

PROCESSES

New and global
Integrated Management System
Voith Siemens Hydro as the first group division in Voith AG has
implemented a global Integrated Management System that has
recently been independently certified.

The comprehensive and holistic
quality management system integrates the respective areas ofoccupational health and safety as
well as environmental protection
and, of course, general quality
management.
The global certification is based onwell-known international standards
for quality assurance (ISO 9001),
environmental protection (ISO
14001), as well as occupational
health and safety (OHSAS 18001).
All Voith Siemens Hydro locations
are in complete compliance withthese three standards, handle allprocesses in an identical way, andare formally certified under one
unique certification.

Dr. Hubert Lienhard, CEO of Voith
Siemens Hydro and Member ofthe Board of Voith AG, stated: “Thehigh awareness of Voith Siemens
Hydro’s staff on safety and environmental issues was the absolute prerequisite for reaching this extremely
demanding target within a recordschedule, namely in a third of thenormal time.”
All Voith Siemens Hydro units had
already been certified globally inthe past. The major task of the now
completed process done in all units
worldwide was in the integrationof environmental protection andoccupational health into the existing
management system.

With this, Voith Siemens Hydro not
only sees itself as fully integrated in
the tradition of Voith’s values under
the claim “Engineered reliability”,
but also considers itself as leadingin comparison with other international capital equipment enterprises.

AuthorMatthias Schröder
TRQM Voith Siemens Hydro,
Heidenheim, Germany• Matthias.Schroeder@vs-hydro.com

52

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerWAVE ENERGYFirst breakwater wave plantbuilt in Mutriku
The first commercial breakwater wave energy plant will bebuilt with Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation’s technology
on the Spanish Atlantic coast for the Basque Energy Board,
Ente Vasco de Energia.

The new plant in Mutriku in northern
Spain will work with the Oscillating
Water Column (OWC) technology
of Voith Siemens Hydro’s Scottish
subsidiary Wavegen where it has
been successfully field-tested overa seven year period. The pioneer inwave power operates the first longterm grid connected wave energy
plant.
“Mutriku is a milestone in the historyof wave energy. We are proud thatthe first breakwater wave energy
plant will rely on Wavegen’s technology”, said Dr. Hubert Lienhard,President and CEO of Voith Siemens Hydro. The new project will
see the integration of 16 Wells
turbines into Mutriku’s new breakwater being constructed by the local
government. Supplying green electricity to around 250 households

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

with a rated power of nearly 300
kW, the plant will be commissioned
in the winter of 2008/2009.
Starting signal for green
energy from the oceansWith this innovative power plant
concept the production of green
energy will be integrated into amarine construction with minimal
construction costs.
“This project represents a major
step towards commercialization ofwave power as we continue todevelop the technology and demonstrate its reliability under commercial operating conditions”, said
David Gibb, General Manager of
Wavegen: “And we have alreadynegotiated additional projects inother countries.”

How to turn waves into watts• The wave plant will use the Oscillating
Water Column principle which has beenutilized in Wavegen’s demonstration
plant in Scotland since 2000. An opening
in the front of the breakwater allows thesea to rise and fall within a chamber due
to the natural action of the waves. This
motion compresses and decompresses
the enclosed volume of air. The energy
generated from this pressure differential
is then – with the aid of a Wells turbine
and a generator – transformed into
electricity and fed into the grid.

AuthorDr. Jochen Weilepp
Head of Ocean Energies,
Heidenheim, Germany• Jochen.Weilepp@vs-hydro.com

53

NEWS

54

BreakwaterTechnology

Limberg II
Austria

Presented at the G8

Successful model acceptancejournalist summit

test for pump-turbine

Dr. Thomas Heath of Wavegen.

Upper reservoir of Limberg.

Voith Siemens Hydro is one of theregulars whenever future energy
generation systems are being discussed – including the recent G8
summit during it associated lecture
program. At the press office inKuehlungsborn near Heiligendamm,
Dr. Thomas Heath, Engineering
Manager of the Scottish Voith Siemens Hydro subsidiary Wavegen,informed journalists about thepotential of wave energy – approximately 15 percent of the worldwide
demand for electricity can be generated from wave power. The presentation was part of the lecture series“The Power of Ideas”, organized by“Germany – Land of Ideas”, an
initiative of the Federal Government
and German industry.

In the presence of the operator,
Verbund-Austrian Hydro Power AG,
model tests for the Limberg II-pumpturbine were successfully completed
in Voith Siemens Hydro’s corporate
technology facilities in Heidenheim.
After the ten day model test, themanufacturing phase for the two
240 MW pump-turbines has begun.
The machines’ optimum design
posed an engineering challenge as
the unit’s head for turbine andpump operation will vary extremely
between 288 and 436 meters,
depending on the water level of thehuge storage lakes that feed theunits from a reservoir capacity ofmore than 80 million cubic meters.
Limberg II will serve as an addition
to the existing Kaprun group ofhydro power stations and will morethan double the currently installedcapacity. With its two units, theLimberg II power station will supply
about 10 percent of electricity toAustria’s grid during peak operation
times.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

NEWS

UglichRussiaErmenek
TurkeyContract for hydro unit

Successful workshop test

upgrade in Russia signed

Inside Uglich hydro power station, Russia.

Ermenek, 200 kilometers east of Antalya.

The contract for the replacementof generating unit number 2 of theRussian Uglich hydro power station
was signed between Gidro OGK,a daughter company of Russian
RAO UES, and Voith Siemens
Hydro Power Generation, Austria,
at beginning of April. The contract
with a value of 33.2 million Euro
includes the replacement of theturbine-generator unit and its auxiliary equipment. The output of the
9-meter diameter Kaplan turbine
will be increased from 65 MW to
70 MW. Uglich hydro power station,
consisting of two units, began operation in 1940 and was the first hydropower station of the Volga-Kamacascade. Both parties view thiscontract to be a starter project withthe potential for future partnershipwithin Gidro OGK’s major investment program, with Gidro OGK
being one of the largest investors
in hydro power worldwide.

As part of the consortium for delivering the electromechanical equipment for the Turkish Ermenek hydropower plant, Voith Siemens Hydro
successfully completed the workshop tests of two spherical valvesin its São Paulo workshop.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerTwo 150 MW high head Francis
turbines are being supplied by Voith
Siemens Hydro. The scope also
includes the delivery of governorsand 2.3 diameter spherical valves
with a design pressure of 50 bar.
The customer, DSI State HydraulicWorks, awarded the complete
electromechanical equipment forthe 300 MW hydro power plant to
the Austrian consortium partners
Andritz VA Tech, Alstom and Voith
Siemens Hydro.

55

NEWS FROM THE VOITH GROUP

Historic earnings marks thecompany’s 140th anniversary
Fiscal year 2005/2006, ending on
September 30, 2006, was the mostsuccessful year in Voith’s 140-year
history. Thanks to strong worldwide
economic growth, new orders
exceeded 4 billion Euros for the firsttime, increasing by 25.7 % to 4.1
billion euros. Sales grew by 7.9 %to 3.7 billion Euros. The performance of the Group has continued to
improve: the operating result excluding periodic influences increased by
50 % over the previous year. Earnings before tax doubled, amounting
to 330 million Euros, and net
income reached an exceptionallyhigh peak at 246 million Euros,
although it should be noted that thisfigure included extraordinary earnings from the sale of financial holdings amounting to 112 million Euros.
Voith’s President and CEO Dr.
Hermut Kormann summed up: “Overthe years Voith has reinvented itself
again and again, which is why it ishealthy and financially strong in its
140th year. We have the freedom
and the means to push ahead with
our innovation offensive throughout
the Group.”

56

Kormann knows he can count on
the inventiveness and creativityof his employees – and on theirstamina. “We have the resources
to pursue any innovation. And we’ll
make sure it stays that way!
We have a wide range of innovative
projects, and we are confident they
will bring us more than half a billion
euros in sales in a few years.”With projects like the tidal current
power plant, which Voith is developing together with a Korean partner,
the time frame is much longer.
“Projects like this extend way into
the future. At Voith, our experiencehas taught us that some things takemore time. In a family enterprise,
the generation that sows doesn’t
always have to be the one that
reaps,” he explained.
As a Group Division of Voith, Voith
Siemens Hydro also recorded a
substantial increase in orders received. Healthy business in Europe
and – after a lengthy pause – areturn to a positive South Americanbusiness climate were behind thisdevelopment.

European orders came in from
Spain, Germany, Austria andPortugal. As in the preceding years,
many of these projects involved
pumped storage power plants.
Limberg II marked Voith Siemens
Hydro’s second large order from
Austria in 24 months. Outside ofEurope, supplies for hydro power
stations in Turkey, Peru, Mexico andtwo new plants in China were contracted by Voith Siemens Hydro.
The US presented another focus
in the modernization business withnumerous component deliveries,
also comprising “aerating runners”
that considerably enhance aquatic
life of tailrace waters through theiroxygen injecting effect. A remarkableaward from Canada was throughthe contract for a new additional unit
in Revelstoke, a hydro power planton British Columbia’s ColumbiaRiver.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerNEWS FROM THE VOITH GROUP

Voith’s new head office building
Voith AG announced in April 2007
its plans to build a head office for
the Voith Group of Companies in
its original hometown of Heidenheim/Brenz in East Württemberg,
Germany.
With this project, the family-owned
enterprise, represented in over 40
countries with more than 250 locations, for the first time creates anoptical and physical center for its
34,000 employees all over theworld. The head office, whose
construction was decided as Voithcelebrates its 140th anniversary,
underlines the growth of the company and points the way ahead into
the future.
Preparations for the project will start
immediately. Construction will begin
in 2008. Occupancy of the new
Head Office is scheduled for theend of 2009. After completion, some
300 employees will work there on afloor space of 7,000 m2.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerThe 35 million-Euro-project will beplanned and built by the internationally renowned architectural firm
Murphy/Jahn from Chicago, Illinois,
USA. Architect Helmut Jahn has
designed a large number of highprofile buildings all over the world.
With this architecturally pioneering
project, Voith responds to the enormous international growth of thecompany in recent years, resulting
in a significant increase of employees, including the workforce in
Heidenheim. The new building willaccommodate the Management
Board, the Board Members of theGroup Divisions Voith Paper, Voith
Turbo, Voith Siemens Hydro Power
Generation and Voith Industrial
Services, their direct reporting
functions and the Central Divisionsof the corporation.

57

NEWS FROM THE VOITH GROUP

Voith Industrial
Services

Voith Paper

Premier, a Voith Industrial Services
company, has expanded their business with the Ford Motor Company
with several recent contracts in USA
and Brazil. In the United States,
Premier signed a three year contract at the Lima, Ohio Engine Plant
Cleveland multi-facility complex in
Ohio, and at twelve more productdistribution centers scattered acrossthe US. The scope of services atthese facilities includes facility
management, powered mobile
equipment management, and technical cleaning.

Voith Paper, the leading supplierfor packaging paper machines, andNine Dragons Paper, a Chinese
supplier of packaging paper, signed
a contract for delivery of four new
board machines. All four machines
will come on line within the next 24
months. Each pair of the four paper
machines are identical. The combined daily production of all of themwill be approximately 3,000 tons.

Services are also executed at Ford
Motor Company Brazil. In 2006,
Premier Brazil was recognized as
the best service company in 2006.
For the last six years Ford Motor
Company Brazil has honored its
nine best suppliers in Brazil with the
Supplier of the Year Award. These
companies were deeply analyzed
regarding quality and cost of product and services; efficiency andsocial responsibility actions developed through the ISO 14000 Certification.

58

As a tribute to sustainability, Nine
Dragons Paper uses waste paper tomake cardboard for boxes and otherpackaging products for the fastestgrowing major economy in theworld. Consequently the consumption of paper in food and industrial
packaging and daily use like tissue
is on the rise and the paper industry
is booming in China. Last year the
consumption of paper and cardboard grew about 16 percent tonearly 70 million tons as the economy grew by 10.7 percent. According
to Ming Ming Liu, President of Voith
Paper China, sales are expected
to maintain an 18 percent growth
annually through 2012.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPowerNEWS FROM THE VOITH GROUP

Voith Turbo
Voith Turbo sales soar

Voith Water Tractors to assist

in China

cargo ships in Shanghai

Sales are soaring for Voith Turboin China. According to Dr. Birgit
Suberg, Managing Director of Voith
Turbo China, the group division’ssales in the Chinese market doubled
to 70 million Euro in fiscal year
05/06. Dr. Suberg, in a recent Beijingpress conference, also forecasted
Voith Turbo’s business in China togrow at 15 - 20 percent annually
within the next five years. To service
Voith Turbo’s customers in China
better and better, a new plant has
been built in Shanghai at an investment of 29 million Yuan. Dr. Suberg
hopes to build a long-term partnership with China by providing reliable
technologies and customized services. Currently, Voith Turbo has over
70 percent of China’s high-end
passenger car retarder market,
contributing to China’s growth,
efficiency and safety of operation.
Currently, most Voith Turbo products
are already present in China.

Yangshan International Deep Water
Port in Shanghai will be the largest
container port in the world with anannual capacity of 25 million standard containers. Three Voith Water
Tractors (VWT) will assist with thehandling of the cargo ships andperform escort and towing duties.
This is the first time that Voith Turbo
Schneider Propulsion delivers Voith
Schneider Propellers directly to a
Chinese end customer – Shanghai
Port Technology Engineering Service
Corporation.

August 2007 I 16 I HyPower

Voith Turbo Schneider Propulsion
will also provide nautical training.
The 30-meter-long and 11.5-meterwide escort vessels were designed
especially for the new port.

At an average water depth in theport of 15 meters, even the largest
VWT-escorted container ships canbe handled. They can enter the portsafely and reach their terminals
without problems. The three VWT
are built by San Lin Shipyard, forwhich Voith Turbo Schneider Propulsion will deliver six Voith Schneider
Propellers size 28 (28 R5/210-2),
four Voith 1330 DTL turbo couplings
and two control desks.

59Imprint
Published by:Voith Siemens Hydro
Power Generation GmbH & Co. KG
A Voith and Siemens Company

Editor:Barbara Fischer-Aupperle
Voith Siemens Hydro
Power Generation GmbH & Co. KG
Alexanderstr. 1189522 Heidenheim, Germany
Fon +49 7321 37-68 48
Fax +49 7321 37-78 28
barbara.fischer-aupperle@vs-hydro.com
www.voithsiemens.com
In cooperation with:
Manfred Schindler
Werbeagentur OHG, Aalen, Germany
Text + Konzept AG, Essen, Germany

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