MAGAZINE FOR HYDROPOWER TECHNOLOGYHyPower#28 | Autumn 2016

HYDROPOWER IN AFRICA

HIGH POTENTIAL
SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPSREPLACE OR REFURBISH?
FULL LINE SUPPLIER

WHY SMALL HYDRO IS BIG NEWSEDITORIAL

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Photographs:
Cover: Graeme Williams, Gauteng; Ryan Thomas /AerialShots, Johannesburg: 8, 9, 19; ChristianWesser, Heidenheim: p. 16, 17, 18, 29, 35; Graeme Williams, Gauteng,: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20,
21, 22, 23; Dawin Meckel, Berlin: p. 26, 27, 28; Brian Gartside: p. 44, 45 Kent Kallberg Studios,Vancouver: p. 39, 40; U3: Robert Caputo /Aurora / laif
All other photos are from Voith.

UNLOCKING POWERFULPOTENTIAL
Diversity. Complexity. Potential. Three words
that sum up Africa pretty well in many different
contexts – geographical, political, economic
and social. They also apply to Africa’s energygeneration infrastructure. While some Africancountries have plentiful oil and gas reserves,
some have none. Some can rely on hydropower for nearly all their power requirements, someneed to import almost all their electricity fromoutside their borders. And even if the resources
exist, building an infrastructure that delivers
power to homes and businesses reliably is another challenge altogether – especially in countries that have been ravaged by recent or current conflicts.
As a result, there is one reality that applies
to some areas of every African country: electricity supply is nowhere near sufficient to meetdemand. In fact, even in 2016, around threequarters of the African population do not haveaccess to reliable, constant power. From a hydropower perspective, Voith is at the forefrontof efforts to change this.
To harness Africa’s hydropower potential,
financing flexibility, expertise and commitment
are all essential. Voith has all three in abun-dance. We work closely with leading financial
institutions and insurers to help our African
customers spread the cost of building or rehabilitating hydropower facilities over realistic timeframes. Our experts in Heidenheim and acrossthe world are ready and willing, not only to
manufacture the equipment required, but tospend weeks and months on site, working
closely with customers to transfer knowledge,build skills and ensure that once a plant is completed, it can be run effectively by local people.
We are also investing in improving our local servicing capabilities to permanently improve service for our customers.
This new edition of HyPower showcases
how customers and communities in Africa andelsewhere are benefiting from maximizing theirhydropower potential, and leveraging the newest technologies to do so. Enjoy!
Yours sincerely,

Uwe Wehnhardt
President and CEO of Voith Hydro
HyPower 2016 | 3

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

8AGENDA SETTING

8ENERGIZING AFRICA
How significant hydropower projects
in South Africa and Angola aretransforming economies and lives.

16 MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW
Voith Hydro's CMO and African
sales leader discuss the potentialof hydropower in Africa.
Discover more about Voith through its
other insightful publications.

19 MODERNIZINGMOUNT COFFEE
How Liberia's hydropower
infrastructure is being
rebuilt to support rapid economic
development.

4 | HyPower 2016

FULL LINE SUPPLIER

26 SMALL PROJECTS,
BIG RESULTSIn Asia, a larger number of smallerhydropower projects
could be the key to improving
rural power availability.

28 MEETING THE LARGE HYDROCHALLENGE
Hydropower projects so large thatthey can take almost a decade
to complete require a special setof skills for success.
FROM THE ARCHIVES

30 TRUE SURVIVORREGULARS

03 EDITORIAL
06 WHAT’S NEW
07 ON TOPIC
43 WORLD OF VOITH
46 5 QUESTIONS FOR …

26

24 GLOBAL TRAINING,LOCAL BENEFITSAll over the world, Voith Hydro isdelivering training concepts
that meet the needs of individual
customers.

The rollercoaster history of theCahora Bassa hydropower plantin Mozambique.

39

GLOBAL EXPERTISE

32 STOPPING THE FLOW
How an electronic control
mechanism for ring gates has
set new standards in precision.

39 THE BIG QUESTION:REPLACE OR REFURBISH?

GUEST PERSPECTIVE

44 CREATING THE
SAFE WATER BOOK™

Why it can pay dividends tooverhaul old hydropower
equipment, rather than retire it.

An exciting water filtering
innovation could solve the problem
of dirty drinking water for millions.

INNOVATION

34 SERVICING AFRICA
When it comes to maintenance,
it's always better to have local
resources on hand. Voith Hydro isinvesting in developing local
African expertise.

42 SAFE AND SOUND
Why a new listening technology isthe best way of monitoring plant
operation remotely.

47 VOITH HYDRO PROJECTS
A visual summary of hydropower
projects by Voith in Africa exploredin this issue.

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS

35 24/7 MOBILE SERVICEIn Europe, the Voith HyService Bus
is ready to leap into action
whenever customers need it.

36 THE POWER TO CHANGE LIVES
How a convent in Tanzania and thecommunity it serves are benefittingfrom Small Hydro.

MOUNT COFFEECAMBAMBE

TULILACAHORA BASSABOKSBURG
INGULA

HyPower 2016 | 5

WHAT’S NEW

ON TOPICDRIVING DEVELOPMENT

VOITH AT HYDROVISION 2016
USA The StreamDiver was the focus of a presentation delivered at
the recent 2016 HydroVision International event in Minneapolis,­Minnesota. Presenter Philip Daus, a Small Hydro engineering project
manager at Voith Hydro, said, “Hydropower is among the best solutions to energy market challenges, and we are using our technology
and expertise to achieve the best outcomes in economy and performance, both technically and environmentally.”
Other important Voith innovation papers presented at the event
covered: a rotor rim slot reshaping process for increasing generator
longevity; a new analysis and replacement process for damaged­turbine thrust collars, which improves monitoring, maintenance andrepair; a new forecasting method to increase accuracy and improve
short-time pumped-storage balancing; and an overview of improved
online assessment processes for hydro-components.

1

2

3

1	Voith exhibition booth.
2
Customer event banquet.
3	Bob Gallo, Bill Malus and Martin Andrä at HydroVision 2016.

In many parts of Africa, the lack of a reliable electricity infrastructure
hinders economic development. Hydropower can play a big part inchanging this picture.

Klaus Schädler, Voith, at groundbreaking ceremony.
1

Power is patchy

2

Hydropower potential is enormous

BREAKING NEW GROUNDGERMANY One of the most exciting innovations
being introduced at Voith Hydro in 2016 is theconstruction of a small hydropower plant (called'Alte Bleiche') at the Heidenheim site, to act as ademonstration facility for customers, employees
and the public. The 35 kW plant will also feed
electricity directly into the local grid – enough topower 100 homes. Construction work started
with a groundbreaking ceremony in April, andthe plant should be operational by year end.
Voith apprentices are involved in the design
and manufacturing, and are working to an ecofriendly design – created in cooperation with theTechnical University of Munich – that eliminates
the need for a new powerhouse. The plant willfeature Voith’s new StreamDiver generator unit,
recently showcased at a series of roadshows
across Latin America. StreamDiver is designed
for low-head river plants and deployed underwater, eliminating noise emissions, minimizing local
environmental impact and making small hydropower plants more cost-effective.

645 million

300  - 400 GW

Africans have no access to electricity.

Potential hydropower capacity inEurope and Africa is similar...

Power consumption per headin Africa

in Europe

181 kWh/y6,500 kWh/y4%...but Europe has an installedcapacity of 218 GW. Africa
has only 30 GW.

Africa produces 4%of the world’s totalenergy, but is home
to 13% of the global
population.

218 GWin Europe

MORE POWER FOR UGANDAUGANDA Voith Hydro has been awarded a contract for thecomplete design, manufacturing, supply, installation and commissioning of the electromechanical equipment for the newhydropower plant on the Achwa River in northern Uganda.
The plant features four vertical Francis turbines and verticalsynchronous generators with an installed capacity of 42 MW.
The project will involve close collaboration between Voith, M/s
6 | HyPower 2016

30 GW
in Africa

2015
Berkeley Energy and customer ARPE Ltd. Commenting on
the project, Head of Voith Hydro’s Small Hydro Business
Klaus Schädler said, “We are happy to be part of the projectthat supports reliable power production and sustainable economic development in the region. We look ­forward to putting
our ideas into practice, and to foster our collaboration for­renewable energy in Uganda.”

Frequent power outages are the norm in

30 African countries.

2,174 MWacross Africa

2010

Between 2010 and2015, 2,174 MW of­hydropower capacity
was added across­Africa.

HyPower 2016 | 7

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTING

ENERGIZINGAFRICA

Successful installations at Ingula in South Africa andCambambe in Angola illustrate how hydropoweris transforming economies and lives across Africa.

IngulaHydropower in IngulaInstalled capacity: 1,368 MW

Bramhoek Dam (lower dam) in winter.
A view of the reservoir from the pumped storage
plant at Ingula in South Africa.
8 | HyPower 2016

A

reliable electricity supply brings
light and heat (or relief from it)
to homes and businesses, powers
machinery, and enables hospitals andschools to function effectively. In a continent as large as Africa, with many
countries and political regimes, dispersed populations, variable transport
infrastructure and a wide range of climates and terrains, generating and distributing power effectively is a challenge.
Voith Hydro in Africa
Voith Hydro supports many African nations in making the most of their hydropower generation potential with a wide
range of small and large projects in

HyPower 2016 | 9

AGENDA SETTING

27 countries. Even so, less than 10%
of Africa’s potential hydropower generation capacity of an estimated 400 GW
has been exploited to date. Together
with its customers, Voith is addressing
this opportunity through: new state-ofthe-art plants; the repair, maintenanceand servicing of existing infrastructure;and the transfer of knowledge to support African countries in running theirhydropower facilities self-sufficiently.
Two projects in particular, at Ingula inSouth Africa, and Cambambe in Angola,
illustrate the benefits perfectly.
Ingula pumped storage plant,
South Africa
Situated in the hills of KwaZulu-Natalin eastern South Africa near the town ofLadysmith, the pumped storage plant at
Ingula is the largest of its kind in Africa.
Its four underground pump turbines
have a total installed capacity of 1,368
MW. Following the tender processlaunched by South African state energy
company Eskom in 2007, Voith Hydro
was awarded the contract for the provision of the pump turbines, motor generators, the main inlet valve, and key
systems in September 2008, some 30
years after the government first started
planning the project. And it has a keyrole to play in South Africa’s energy
supply, as project manager Markus Müller explains: “Like most countries on thecontinent, South Africa suffers from energy shortages which hamper its economic growth. Ingula is particularly important because it will begin making its
contribution to the county’s power gridin 2016.”Site activities began in March 2012
and Voith’s international operations collaborated to deliver the required machinery. While the turbines were designed by Voith Hydro in Germany, themotor generators were supplied by Voith
10 | HyPower 2016

AGENDA SETTING

1

3
2

1	Intake structure at Bedford Dam(upper dam).
2	An operator adjusts the oil filtration
system.
3	Machine Hall Unit 1 and 2 side,­installation of machine hall ceiling.

“The project has involved employing andtraining local staff to run the plant once
it is completed, which is a key part of theservice we provide.”
Markus Müller
Voith Hydro Project Manager for Ingula

Fuji in Japan. The first of the four turbines was handed over to the customer in
mid-June 2016. The next two turbines
were due for handover in August, and thelast by the end of 2016.
Keeping the plant cool
In parallel, Voith has fulfilled the termsof a second contract, awarded in 2011,
for various supplementary systems including cooling water pipes, fire protection, fire prevention and an air ventilation system for the plant. The latter isparticularly important, as Markus Müller explains: “Once they are fully operational, the four turbines will generate alot of heat, and because they are underground, that heat has nowhere to go ifthere is no system in place to remove it.
We are installing the system, but it willtake longer to complete because thefour turbines have to be running before
it can be fully tested.”
Customer and community benefits
Now that the project is nearing completion, Müller can reflect on its success,and the fact that it has delivered many
benefits beyond pure power production,

as he explains: “The project has involved
employing and training local staff to run
the plant once it is completed, which is a
key part of the service we provide. Another important element was our participation in the Accelerated and Shared
Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA). This program is designed to ensure foreign firms invest to help growthe local economy by sourcing products
and services from local providers. In addition, we oversaw the construction of
new infrastructure, such as good quality
roads that enabled us to transport materials and people from Durban harbor to
the plant site.” Not only that, the areasurrounding the site, which includes
sensitive wetlands and which has beenused to house the people working on the
project, will be returned to its originalstate as part of the project.
Nevertheless, power generation is ofcourse the ultimate goal and here, Müller has one final unique detail to add.
“What is very special about the Ingulasite is that all the machines have alreadybeen producing energy before handoverin parallel with the commissioning. As
the demand for power in South Africa
HyPower 2016 | 11

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTING

is so great, that this was a key requirement from our customer Eskom. It’s
highly unusual, but I’m delighted that wehave been able to meet the customer’s
needs.”

Workers measure a generator pit in the
powerhouse of Cambambe II.

Cambambe I and II, Angola
The contrast between the Ingola project
and the Cambambe I and II sites in Angola couldn’t be bigger. In the mid2000s, following three decades of civil
war, the existing Cambambe I hydropower plant, located 180 kilometers eastof Luanda and originally commissioned
in 1963, was in urgent need of rehabilitation. Although two of the original four
turbine units were still operating, one
was being overhauled, and one wasn’t
working at all. The decision was taken
to replace all four, in order to increase
power generation capacity to 268 MW,

and extend the life of the plant for decades. The state-owned electricity supplier ENE selected Voith as a key player
in an international consortium to takeon the project. Voith’s remit: to supply
the electromechanical equipment andsystems, including four 67 MW Francis
turbines and all the required dismantling of old equipment and new installations.
Modern technology for maximum
performance
To ensure the best possible results, thedecision was taken to design a state-ofthe-art hydraulic system for the Francis
turbines, combined with digital and hydraulics governors from Voith. To ensure the local area could be suppliedwith electricity throughout construction, the turbines were installed sequentially. Combined with the control package featuring the digital governor, oil
supply and pumping groups, pressuretanks, main oil supply valves, regulating
valves and hydraulic elements, Voith
was able to prove the value of its status
as full line supplier beyond any doubt.
And when the new plant equipment became operational – with an even higher
performance than was contracted – thecustomer was delighted. So delighted infact, that in 2012, they commissioned
Voith to supply equipment for the Cambambe II project.
Expansion that will transforma country
Despite the advances that have been
made since the end of the civil war in
2002, Angola still faces huge political,
economic and social challenges, as Pro­
ject Manager Patric Kiehlmann haslearnt: “Angola is rich in natural sources, including oil, but the recent lull in oil
prices has had a big impact on the economy – the government’s income has fallen by 50%. Private enterprise is very
limited, and healthcare is very poor.
Economic development, and the jobs
and increase in living standards it brings,
are needed urgently. That’s why Cam-

12 | HyPower 2016

1
2

Cambambe
Hydropower in Cambambe
Installed capacity: 960 MW

The Cambambe site is located 180 kilometers eastof Luanda, the capital of Angola.

bambe II is so important for the futureof the country.” The new run-of-river
plant with an additional four turbines
adds 700 MW of installed capacity,
bringing the sum total of capacity of
Cambambe I and II to 960 MW. As
such, it is a key part of the Angolan’s
strategy to increase power production
capacity to 6,000 MW by 2017.
Tailored financing package
and training
Speaking about the reasons behind theselection of Voith as the key supplier,Kiehlmann comments, “Our one face tothe customer strategy, and the excellent
relationship we had built with ENE
during the Cambambe I project were
key factors. An attractive, tailored financing package and the soundness of
our technological approach and fulfill-

ment of our commitments were also extremely important.” The first unit wascommissioned at Cambambe II in July
2016, despite an extremely tough timeline, and the plant with all four units isforeseen to be fully commissioned in
December 2016. As the client says:“From the day Unit 1 started commercial operation, the power cuts in Luanda
disappeared. This led to a considerable
improvement of the ecological balance
due to the reduction of the use of diesel
generators.”1	The Cambambe II powerhouse underconstruction. 	2
A new generator being installed.

“Our one face to the customer strategy, as well
as a tailored financing package, were extremely
important to becoming the key supplier.”
Patric Kiehlmann
Voith Hydro Project Manager for Cambambe
HyPower 2016 | 13

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTING

Just like the Ingula plant, the projectis very much an international affair, withthe generator being supplied from Sweden, including a four-part stator that was
put together on site. And just like Ingula, the project has had its fair share ofchallenges to overcome. Kiehlmannsays, “Importing the materials alone
took three months, ensuring they wereable to handle the tropical conditions,and the bureaucracy involved in organizing visas for expat employees presented tough challenges. But together
with the customer, we overcame these.”
The extension of the Cambambe site
is vital for the future of Angola. The construction phase is providing much needed jobs and training and a permanent“The reliable and stable supply of energy tothe population and industrial sector is afundamental prerequisite for improving living
standards. Renewable energy is crucial for us.”
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of Liberia

training center is also planned. As Kiehlmann emphasizes, “Our commitment toAngola is a long term one. Throughtraining in particular, we will ensure thatthe benefits of the project are sustainable
for decades to come.”
Despite all the challenges it has
faced since the end of the civil war, economic growth in Angola has been strong– over 11% per year up until 2010. The
Cambambe II plant will play a significant role in helping the country grow its
economy just as rapidly in the future.
But perhaps most importantly of all, it
will also help improve the daily lives of1
2

the population. The even better news isthat this will likely not be the end of thestory. Angola has the potential to generate up to 18 GW of hydroelectric power, most of which remains untapped.
High-level political engagement
In recent years, several high-level delegations from Ethiopia, Liberia andother nations have visited Voith in­
Heidenheim to learn about relevant
technologies and best practices. On her
visit to Germany in 2015, Liberian
President and Nobel Peace Prize winnerEllen Johnson Sirleaf commented, “For
Liberia as well as many other Africancountries, the issue of energy supply isan essential item in the national growthstrategy. The reliable and stable supplyof energy to the population and industrial sector is a fundamental prerequisite
for improving living standards. Renewable energy is crucial for us.” Proof, if
any were needed, that hydropower willplay a key role in African economic development for many years to come. //FINANCING PROGRESS

3
1	In the Cambambe II powerhouse:
generator covers of the installedmachines 1 and 2.
2	Installing a turbine shaft in
Cambambe II.
3	Damjan Vucko, Head of­Operations at Voith Hydro,
at Cambambe II
4
Installing the intermediate shaft
at Cambambe II with view of
the thrust bearing and distributor
underneath.

14 | HyPower 2016

4

Hydropower plants such as the ones at Ingula and Cambambe are a capital-intensive investment. Financial solutions ease the immediate financial burden by
spreading the cost over a long period – especially in developing economies. Voith’s
Financial Services subsidiary creates tailored financing concepts in cooperation
with private commercial banks and state-backed export credit insurers, which areusually based in the home country of the project’s main supplier. Indeed, Longterm excellent relationships and cooperations with Euler Hermes Kreditversicherungs AG in Germany, the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG in Austria, and the
Nippon Export and Investment Insurance company in Japan, among others, arethe basis for this successful financing support.
Bernd Rieck, Head of Export and Project Finance, explains: “Our goal is to find the­optimal financing solution for every customer that wants to use Voith as a supplier.
Every concept is customized to specific customer needs, based on local variables,
project details, the customer’s financial situation, and the so-called Voith Sourcing
Matrix, which analyzes the supply chain.”
Customer benefits• Additional financing sources.
• Long payback periods.
• Attractive financial conditions at advantageous interest rates.
• Planning security for financing across the complete project timeline.

HyPower 2016 | 15

AGENDA SETTING“We are developing our new Africa
concept because we are positive that
the African continent has tremendous
development potential.”
Heike Bergmann
Senior Vice President Sales Africa

Heike Bergmann and Martin Andrä in discussion.

OPPORTUNITYKNOCKS
Voith is investing in its sales programs in Africa. Martin Andrä, Chief
Marketing Officer, and Heike Bergmann, Senior Vice President Sales Africa,
discuss Voith Hydro's future strategy across the continent.

16 | HyPower 2016

How did a renewed push to develop
sales in the African market become
part of your agenda?
Martin Andrä: We are implementing
this new strategic drive because we areconvinced that Africa has very good future prospects and we need to tap into
these opportunities. In Sub-Saharan­Africa, many countries have economic
growth rates of five percent and higher.
These countries need to be suppliedwith reliable power so they can further
pursue their social and economic development.
Heike Bergmann: I want to re-emphasize that. We are developing our new
Africa concept because we are positivethat the African continent has tremendous development potential. One also
has to consider that in some Africancountries, only 20 to 25 percent of the
population has access to electricity,and power outages occur on a regularbasis. The latter presents an impediment to all industrial companies andthus also to economic development.
Can you give us a rough estimate ofthe demand for power plants?
Andrä: There is a huge demand for new

power plants. The following comparison illustrates what we are talking
about. The hydroelectric capacity currently installed on the entire continent isequivalent to the installed capacity of
Norway. However, we think another aspect is also interesting: In Africa, we areseeing a trend in which countries skip
over the fossil fuel-based and nuclear
power generation phases that are typical of the industrialization process, andenter ­directly into electricity production
from renewable energy sources. The
opportunities to make that happen are
in place. Right now, Africa’s untapped
potential for hydroelectric power plants
amounts to between 300 and 400
Gigawatts.

Heike Bergmann,
Senior Vice President Sales Africa,
Voith Hydro

Does Voith have anything to offer tothis market?
Bergmann: Yes, absolutely. On my dele­gation visits, I keep seeing that power
plants built in Africa by European companies are held in high regard. European technology can serve as the
backbone of the African economy, andthat includes Voith, whose hydropower
technology has been used on the continent for about 100 years. Africans value
the quality and longevity of our prodHyPower 2016 | 17

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTING“To win projects in Africa, it’s important to offer financing solutions.”
Martin Andrä
Chief Marketing Officer

Martin Andrä,
Chief Marketing Officer, Voith Hydro

ucts. They want our technology, butneed support in financing it.

few. Our footprint literally extends overthe entire continent.

What does that mean for a technology
supplier?
Andrä: To win projects in Africa, it’s important to offer financing concepts andsolutions. One of Voith’s advantages
that benefits our customers is that we
can offer tailored financing solutions for
projects. That’s why we work with private commercial banks and governmental export credit insurance companies throughout the world.

What do you attribute that to?
Bergmann: It’s based on the excellent
quality of our products and services, aswell as the fact that we keep working
with our customers after a plant is commissioned. We provide extensive training for power plant operators and wehave our own network consisting ofmaintenance facilities.

Where can one find Voith Hydro technology in Africa?
Bergmann: There is a long list of African hydropower stations equipped with
Voith technology. Installations extend
from Aswan in Egypt to Drakensberg inSouth Africa. For example, Voith technology is installed at Gilgel Gibe (Ethiopia), Inga (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Cahora Bassa (Mozambique).
New projects include those at Cambambe (Angola), Mount Coffee (Liberia),
and the pumped storage power stationin Ingula (South Africa), to name just a
18 | HyPower 2016

Andrä: We have always offered training
programs and courses with our plants,
and that has helped us establish a very
good reputation in Africa. Now, we want
to use our new concept to generate
added value for customers by providing
solutions customized to their respective
needs. We have a global network andare able to combine system components from Europe, Brazil, India, andChina with corresponding financing solutions. In this way, we can create theright package of technology, training,
service, and fi­ nancing for any operator,
regardless of their location and the sizeof the ­hydropower station. //MODERNIZINGMOUNT COFFEE
A significant hydropower plantmodernization project is helping
to improve Liberia’s power
infrastructure following yearsof civil war.

 am wall under construction on the Saint Paul River,Dwith the powerhouse on the right.

T

he digital age is finally reaching Liberia’s Mount Coffeehydropower plant, thanks to Voith and its pivotal role inthis historic project, together with other international
companies. Built in the 1960s, this plant on the Saint Paul R­ iverwas the West African nation’s largest at the time, but sustained
extensive damage during the civil war (1989-2003). And thepath to ruin continued when looting ravaged the electrical andmechanical components, leaving only parts of the dam and thesteel penstock intact. This proved to be a huge setback to thecountry’s economic and social progress, leaving Liberia’s capital
city Monrovia reliant on costly, non-renewable diesel-power
generation to meet its energy needs from 2006 onwards.

HyPower 2016 | 19

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTING“At the customer’s request, Voith
took on the challenging task of
opening the spillway gates withoutcausing any damage to the civil
structure and components. All ten
gates were reopened ahead ofschedule.”
Harry Kathirvel
Project Manager Voith Hydro

1
2

3
4

1	Reservoir at the Mount Coffee hydropower
plant in Liberia.
2	The local community will benefit significantly.
3	Installation work at the Mount Coffee
powerhouse.
4	Julia Holder, Field Service Engineer,
Voith Hydro.

Mount Coffee

Hydropower in Mount Coffee
Installed capacity: 88 MW

The Mount Coffee site is situated near the
Liberian capital, Monrovia.

20 | HyPower 2016

Mutual trust is the prerequisite
Trust in Voith’s long-standing presence and vast experience on
the African continent was key to its selection by the LiberianElectricity Corporation (LEC) to rehabilitate the run-of-river
plant in 2013. Now, the huge task of successively installing
four new Francis turbines and generators equipped with control technology, a 95-ton overhead crane, as well as the auxiliary electrical and mechanical plant equipment is nearing completion. The plant is scheduled to commence operations in late
2016.
Financed by the Liberian and Norwegian governments,
the European Investment Bank, Germany’s KfW Bank, andthe Millennium Challenge Corporation of the US government, the modernized units are forecast to raise power output
to 88 MW, a 33 percent increase on the plant’s capacity in the
1960s. As a result, Monrovia’s population of over one million
will have access to reliable, clean and renewable energy.
Overcoming significant challenges
However, the path towards rehabilitation has had its fair shareof obstacles, such as the condition of ten spillway gates thatwere destroyed during the civil war. The operating mechanisms to open the gates had been destroyed, leaving the powerhouse flooded. Keeping the powerhouse dry became imperative, and that meant reopening the gates so that a cofferdam
could be built to prevent water flowing into the powerhouse.
This daunting task was a major milestone in the reconstructionof the Mount Coffee power plant, says Project Manager Harry

Kathirvel: “At the customer’s request, Voith took on the challenging task of opening the spillway gates without causing any
damage to the civil structure and components. All ten gateswere reopened ahead of schedule.”
Poor road conditions between the site and the Port ofMonrovia, which is about 25 kilometres away, posed a challenge to the transportation of sensitive equipment. Not only
that, the heavy rain from April to October further disrupted
operations. This meant that for certain plant systems, Voith
had to commence with the design and manufacturing phases
early enough to complete local transportation during the dry
season. The thorough and detailed work plan that addressed
all these challenges resulted in a flawless execution of the entire supply chain, without a hitch.
Road survey and simulation run for powerhouse cranetransportation
One of the major hurdles that had to be factored in during the
local transportation of the 95-ton powerhouse crane was a Bailey bridge. Given its rusty condition, doubts arose about its
structural integrity, and whether the bridge could withstandsuch a heavy load. Furthermore, using an existing alternative
bridge that was being renovated was out of the question. To
prevent any risk to the powerhouse crane equipment, Voith
carried out a thorough road survey and simulated transportation over the bridge using dummy cargo. Based on the simulation results, significant measures were implemented to ensure
the bridge was up to the task.

Acknowledgement by the President
Voith’s long working tradition in Africa dates back to the1950s, a factor that helped build up trust at the start of the
project. Together with the customer, LEC, a cohesive, vital,
one-team approach has been adopted.
Moreover, not even unpredictable events such as the
spread of the Ebola virus in 2014, and a high incidence of malaria in the team later on have thwarted the rehabilitation
works, which are on schedule, as Franz Bayrle, Site Manager,
explains: “This year, we have had 35 cases of malaria in myteam alone. But work within the culturally diverse team who
HyPower 2016 | 21

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTING“Voith is supporting Liberia with animportant step in the fight for thedevelopment of the Liberian
economy.”CONTINUOUS
COLLABORATIONGIZ supports the German government andother organizations in executing energy generation
projects in Africa and around the world.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of Liberia

hail from Liberia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Germany, Norway
and Sweden, is going well. I’m very pleased with them. They
have all fitted well into the work schedule.” Their performancewas even acknowledged by the President of Liberia, EllenJohnson Sirleaf. When visiting the Voith headquarters in
Heidenheim last year, President Sirleaf, who is also Liberia’s
Nobel Peace Laureate, said: “I am delighted that Voith and
LEC have found a secure and pragmatic way for the further
development of the project, despite the recently overcome Ebola epidemic. With this, Voith is supporting Liberia with animportant step in the fight for the development of the Liberian
economy and combating national poverty: with the repair ofthe Mount Coffee power plant, one of the key facilities in the
Liberian energy supply network is being reconstructed.”
Another interesting aspect of the project is the contribution of the project’s female engineers, in an industry where
women are under-represented. Julia Holder, Field Service Engineer, comments, “There is definitely a collaborative working
atmosphere at Mount Coffee, and all the staff are friendly andhelpful. The fact that myself, two Norwegian engineers andmany of the local staff are women is not really an issue. We
have a good team spirit and always support each other.”
The final steps to successOn completion, the modernized plant will be fitted with
Voith’s automation system, including a digital governor andstate-of-the-art control system. The training of skilled personnel is already underway and the first team of new LEC employees being trained for eventual operation and maintenanceof the plant will arrive in Heidenheim in fall 2016 for further
instruction. This is where they will become familiar with thedesign software, and gain in-depth exposure to the scope of theMount Coffee plant, its machinery and workings, while thefinishing touches are being applied to this mammoth projecton site. Thanks to Voith and its project partners, it will fulfil
President Sirleaf’s mission to improve the reliability and scopeof Liberia’s electricity supply. //22 | HyPower 2016

1
2

3

The energy department of the German Association for International­Cooperation (GIZ) supports the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development and other organizations in identifying,­financing and executing new energy generation projects in over 120 rapidly developing countries. Projects using renewable energy sources suchas hydropower are very much in focus, as Jens Burgtorf, Head of­Technology C­ ooperation for the Energy Sector at GIZ, explains.
How have energy projects in developing countries changed inrecent years?
“Today, our clients want integrated energy generation concepts that are
CO neutral. That’s a significant and very positive change but it also brings²
challenges. Specifically, power supplied from some renewable sources
such as solar and wind power is unpredictable. If the sun doesn’t shine,or the wind doesn’t blow, power can’t be produced.”
How important is hydropower in this context?
“Hydropower's advantage is that it is stable. Pumped storage plants are
particularly important because they can store energy that can be used tofill the gaps when solar and wind resources fall short. In other words,
hydropower can form a core, stable power supply that can then be
extended through solar and wind-based power.”1	Mount Coffee powerhouse under­construction.
2	A lathe machine operator inside Voith's onsite workshop.
3	Final adjustments being made to the­generator.

How does this relate to Africa in particular, and what are the challenges?
“Hydropower is very significant in Africa because the continent is so large,
and the grid infrastructure is so patchy, especially in rural areas. In every
project, protecting and enhancing the livelihoods of the communities­affected, and ensuring enough water is available for multiple purposes areparamount. We work closely with all the parties involved to ensure that.”
What is the future for hydropower in Africa in your view?
“Small, localized hydropower projects that bring energy to people outside
the large population centers and which use existing infrastructure will play
an important part because they minimize the capital investment required.
They can also be completed faster, so people benefit from the power theygenerate more quickly.”

HyPower 2016 | 23

AGENDA SETTINGAGENDA SETTINGGLOBALTRAINING,LOCAL
BENEFITS
Voith is committed to the transfer of in-depth
technological knowledge and skills to local
employees, thereby securing the successful
operation of hydropower plants for generations
to come – in Africa and around the world.

With less than one in three Africans
having access to electricity, it’s clear that
there’s an urgent need for efficient power plants across the continent. But eventhe most modern hydropower plants
can’t simply run themselves – they needteams of skilled people to manage andmaintain them. That's why Voith provides training to the African companies
and governments who own and operate
the plants. Voith’s HydroSchool contributes to the reliable production of electric24 | HyPower 2016ity in the long run, which is a decisive factor for economic and social development.
Flexible approach to accelerate
progress
Every project is different – in Africa, as it
is everywhere else. That’s why the Voith
HydroSchool offers a wide range oftraining options. Hydropower plant operators can order a selection of training
modules as part of their installation or
refurbishment project. Or Voith engi-

neers might notice signs of operational
errors affecting the components they
are replacing, and suggest some extra
courses to get on-site engineers up to
speed. In the case of a completely newplant designed and installed fromscratch, Voith can offer more detailed
and intensive training. This covers eachtechnology, how it works and how it isintegrated into the plant as a whole,then moves on to how to look after andmaintain the components correctly.
Many organizations opt for extra training to ensure they’re getting the bestvalue and most reliable service out of
their installation.
Market maturity levels define needs
Aside from the technical aspects, Voith
HydroSchool training is structured differently depending on market maturity.
North America and Europe are mature
markets, where refurbishment of very
old plants is key, and where the impending retirement of baby-boomer
engineers makes knowledge transfer­
important. These markets are served
well with public courses where several
customers attend the same course. The
Chinese market is younger – with
25-year-old hydropower plants where
the “original” engineers are still working
and are actively training younger staff.
Here, operators can book seminars forstaff with Voith’s subject experts to top
up their knowledge. In contrast, Africa isa greenfield market with a lack of skilled
engineers. “In these cases, our training
program can ensure a skilled workforce,” comments Cherie Ferrari, Manager of Customer Education and Training at Voith. “We often design
completely customized courses tailoredto the plant operator, staff, project andeven the actual equipment in use.”
Mount Coffee: challenges overcome
The Mount Coffee project in Liberia is acase in point. This hydropower plant,
built in the 1960s, is located close to theCustomer staff members in a training
session at the Cambambe II hydropower
plant, Angola.

Liberian capital, Monrovia. However, it
was damaged during the course of two
civil wars. Liberia had been dependent
on expensive diesel-generated power
since 2006, and Voith was tasked withrenovating the plant, which is due to be
put into service at the end of 2016.
Voith developed special courses that
­Liberian engineers will complete before
the plant is commissioned, an aspectthat proved to be of great interest to­Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
and her energy minister, Patrick Sendolo,
when they visited Voith headquarters in
May 2015. “We’re looking forward towelcoming Mount Coffee engineers
to the HydroSchool training centerin Heidenheim this fall,” notes Cherie
F errari. “This project is an excellent­
example of how reliable electrification­from hydropower in combination withskilled engineers on site can reallystrengthen the economic and social
fabric of countries like Liberia.”
More African projects underway
The Voith HydroSchool will also provide
training services following the implementation of the Cambambe II project in­Angola, and the Inga I installation in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Cherie Ferrari adds: “Along with technical training, we can also deliver mentoring. At a recent pole replacement projectin Mozambique, we simply ‘shadowed’
local engineers and helped them withsome tips and tricks. That’s the main
point about the HydroSchool – training isalways exactly what each individual customer needs. One size doesn’t fit all!” //HyPower 2016 | 25

FULL-LINE SUPPLIER

FULL-LINE SUPPLIER

SMALL PROJECTS,
BIG RESULTS

1	Manufacturing small hydro turbines
in Vadodara, India.
2	Local technician inspects turbine quality.

Small hydropower installations are often the only
practical and economic option – but their impact
can still be significant.

A coastal country on the Indochina
Peninsula, Vietnam is one of Southeast
Asia’s fastest-growing economies. The
country’s numerous rivers are an important transportation route with over
17,700 kilometers of navigable waterways – and they are also an importantsource of renewable energy. Vietnam
has a theoretical hydropower potentialof approximately 300,000 GWh annually, 100,000 GWh of which is economically viable. Until recently, just 15,211
MW had been installed, leaving plentyof room for growth.
Small hydro success in Vietnam
As part of the new Renewable Energy
Development Strategy 2030, unveiledin December 2015, the Vietnamese
government has prioritized renewableenergies and plans to increase hydropower generation from 56 TWh in 2015
to 90 TWh in 2020. Voith Hydro Private
Limited, based in Vadodara in northwest India, which launched in the Vietnamese market in 2011, is supportingthe country in building and renewing its
hydropower infrastructure, which features a large number of relatively smallscale installations. This commitment isreflected by numerous already commissioned projects and others which are
currently underway.
Dak Ter-1 was the first project commissioned by Voith in Vietnam, located26 | HyPower 20161
2

in the Tu Mo Rong District. The contract’s scope involves the supply of turbine and generator, automation, E-BOP,
M-BOP and supervision of installationand commissioning the project. The
system and component engineering of
the turbine was undertaken by Voith’s
local engineering center, and the turbines were manufactured in Vadodara,
India. This was the first pilot project using the cost-effective Standard Small
Hydro Automation Scheme. This
scheme combines the functions of digital governor, control system, and excitation and protection system in one
common panel, and delivers it within acompact solution. Both units in the
project were handed over to the customer in February 2015, leading to athird project, Dakpsi 2B, being recently
awarded to Voith Hydro.
Meanwhile, the contract for Dak
Ter-2, which is in the cascade of the
Dak Ter-1 project and on a similar scale,
was signed in October 2013. Work com-

PROJECTCAPACITY

Dakpsi 2B

2 x 7 MW

Dak Ter-1

2 x 1.8 MW + 10 % COL

Dak Ter-2

2 x 1.7 MW + 10 % COL

Thanh Thuy-1

2 x 6 MW + 10 % COL

Alin B1hydroelectric
project

2 x 23 MW + 10 % COL

Son Tra 1A

2 x 18 MW

Son Tra 1B

2 x 18 MW

Kurhed2 x 2.25 MW + 10 % COL

Behna

2 x 2.5 MW + 10 % COL

Gullu

2 x 12 MW + 10 % COL

Lake Mainit
project

3 x 8.333 MW + 10 % COL

Asiga

2 x 4 MW

Semangka

2 x 28.3 MW + 10 % COL

menced in April 2014, and since commissioning in September 2015, both Dak
Ter-1 and Dak Ter-2 have been performing to the customer’s full satisfaction.
A contract for Thanh Thuy-1 wassigned in May 2015 with twin-jet Peltonturbine generating sets and complete
water-to-wire scope. Thanh Thuy-1
H ydropower Joint Stock Company­­selected Voith to deliver all the power
plant equipment at Haiphong port within 14 months of the commencement
date, followed by commissioning.

Voith was also chosen to work on
the Alin B1 hydroelectric project inMarch 2016, following a tough bidding
process. Located in the A Luoi andPhong Dien districts, this is the company’s seventh successful Vietnamese
project, which is being developed in cooperation with Truong Phu Hydropower
Joint Stock Company.
And finally, another recent important milestone was the securing of acontract for the Son Tra 1 project in April
2016. Located on the Dak Se Lo Riverin Quang Ngai province and southwestof Quang Ngai City, the scope includes
supplying a complete set of equipment
for two powerhouses in cascade formation – Son Tra 1A and Son Tra 1B. The
30-4 Quang Ngai Joint Stock Company
is developing the project.
Serving all of Asia
Voith’s manufacturing facilities in Vadodara serve India, Nepal, Bhutan, Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines.
For instance, in April 2016, Voith
commissioned the Kurhed project in­Himachal Pradesh, India; the installations at Behna and Gullu are slated forcommissioning in late 2016.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, theLake Mainit project is being built on thenortheastern section of the island of
Mindanao. Voith has also supplied theelectromechanical equipment for Asiga,
also located in Mindanao.
And in Indonesia, the supply ofequipment for the Semangka project isunderway, as well as installation of theturbine components. The project is due
to be commissioned in 2017.
Importantly, all of Voith’s activities
in the region are driven by close customer relationships, and regular faceto-face meetings between customers
and senior Voith managers. This demonstrates the company’s commitment
to hydropower projects of all sizes. //HyPower 2016 | 27

FULL-LINE SUPPLIER

FULL-LINE SUPPLIER

1
2

MEETINGTHE LARGE
HYDROCHALLENGE
Today, major hydropower projects involve
combining components that arrive fromall over the world. Optimizing speed,quality and cost-efficiency is a toughbalancing act.
28 | HyPower 2016

1	The cavern of the world's third-largest
hydropower plant at Xiluodu on the Jinsha
River, China. Voith delivered three of the
18 machines for the site, which has a total
capacity of 13.86 GW.
2	A Voith employee inspects the installation
to ensure maximum quality.

Preparing a bid for a large hydropower facility is a major project in its
own right. It requires patience, attention
to detail, and investment. According to
Björn Reeg, Voith Hydro’s Head of Pro­
ject Management, constructing a scale
prototype of the plant is often the firststep. “The miniature version helps us to
optimize and to achieve the required
performance and efficiency.” The teamassesses the project’s technical feasi­
bility and finds the right balance be­
tween efficiency, longevity and perfor­
mance.
Working on a project that takes adecade to complete is normal for Reeg
and his team. “The assessment pro­
cess takes time, because there are somany factors – the country and its regu­
lations, the plant’s location and logisti­
cal needs, and all the technical andcustomer-related specifics. The longest
project I’ve worked on was Iberdrola’s
La Muela II installation in Spain – it tookeight years! Even after all that time,
despite some delays outside of our­control, the customer was delighted
with the project management. I’m very
proud of that.”“I think there are four key criteria for­ensuring the success of a large-scale
project,” says Reeg. “A good relation­
ship with the customer is probably themost important – without that, every­
thing else is more difficult. Outstanding
change management skills and reacting quickly to unexpected events arealso vital, because unpredictability is agiven. Thirdly, leadership skills, espe­
cially the coordination and manage­
ment of multinational and multicultural
teams. And of course, quality – our­reputation depends on it.”
Close collaboration
In Canada, a project for BC Hydro at
Site C, a large-scale plant on the Peace
River in British Columbia, provides agood example of transferring this theory
into practice. “We set up a project team
to work solely on this offer,” says
­Laurent Bulota, Head of Proposals atlaboration,” adds Bulota. It was a real
marathon, but it paid off in the end!”
A strong foundation for successOn the other side of the world, anotherlarge-scale project is taking shape that
also relies on close collaboration. The
Wudongde hydropower station is the
fourth largest in China and its turbine
generator units will be amongst thelargest worldwide in terms of power
output. Zhang Min, project manager ofVoith Hydro Shanghai for Wudongde,
echoes the experience of Björn Reeg
and L­aurent Bulota. “We won this pro­“Outstanding change management skills andreacting quickly to unexpected events are vital,
because unpredictability is a given.”
Björn Reeg
Head of Project Management, Voith Hydro

Voith Hydro in Montreal. “Several of thecustomer’s criteria were soft factors likecustomer references and methodologi­
cal details.” The team then performed
several simulations to optimize the bal­ance between the units’ performance,
the amount of rock to be excavated outof the river and the Amount of concretein the plant. The entire offer process
took over three years, culminating in thecontract signature in March 2016.
“When BC Hydro awarded us the con­tract, they thanked us for the close col­ject ­because we built a good relation­
ship with the customer and because we
had ­access to global expertise fromacross the Voith Group,” he says.
In fact, the recipe for success inlarge hydropower projects is quite simi­
lar wherever the site, as Zhang con­cludes: “This project is already pro­
gressing well and we are very focusedon achieving the best result for the cus­
tomer. Diligence, confidence and great
teamwork: that’s the secret to succeed­ing in large projects.” //Iberdrola’s La Muela II installation in Spain
took eight years to complete.

HyPower 2016 | 29

FROM THE ARCHIVESFROM THE ARCHIVESTRUE
SURVIVOR“Cabora Bassa” – a name that demands
superlatives: a 164-meter-high dam wallon the Zambezi River; a 250-kilometerlong reservoir lake; a 1,500-kilometer-longhigh-voltage line between Mozambiqueand South Africa; and a total power output
of 2,075 MW.

M
The spectacular dam on the Zambesi following
completion in the late 1970s, before it was ruined
during the civil war.

TECHNICAL DATA
5 Voith Francis turbines with 415 MW each;turbine runner diameter: 7 m

Dam Wall:height: 164 mwidth at the base: 23 m
width at water level: 4 m

103.5 METERS HEAD
5 generators with 480 MVA each;rotor diameter: 13 m

Cavern:length: 220 mheight: 57 m
width: 29 m
30 | HyPower 2016

ozambique was still a colony when the tender wassent out for the construction of a hydropower planton the Zambezi River in November 1967. The Portuguese “Minister for overseas territories” was planning “Cabora Bassa” as the largest hydropower plant in southern Africa.
Five turbines were meant to generate the electricity that waslargely intended to be sold to South Africa. For electricity
transmission, a 1,500-kilometer-long high-voltage line wasbuilt between the site and Pretoria.
In September 1969, roughly two years after the tendering
process began, the contract for the underground hydropower
plant was awarded to an international consortium that included ­Siemens, Voith, AEG, BBC and the construction company
Hochtief – all German companies. Voith provided the fiveFrancis turbines for Cabora Bassa. While the turbines werebeing constructed in Heidenheim, robust roads and bridges
were built in Mozambique so that machines and equipment
could be transported to the construction site. On the high­plateau, a runway for propeller-driven aircraft was built, andthe region was equipped with a new telecommunications andtelex system.

plans for the construction of an irrigation system to serve
huge agricultural areas. A total of 15,000 km² was supposed tobe harnessed for the cultivation of fruits for export. And therevenue generated from this was intended to boost economic
development.
However, there were also dissenting voices and protests.
The Mozambican freedom movement Frelimo, which had
been fighting for political freedom from Portugal since 1964,
criticized the project, as did various student movements acrossEurope. Their argument was that Cabora Bassa would only
benefit the apartheid regime in South Africa and the dictatorship in Portugal. During the construction and installation period, civil war and violence dominated the country. The construction site and the camp, which housed more than 3,000
engineers and construction workers at the time, had to be secured by the military.

technique was developed for this: high-voltage direct-current
transmission. With this new technique, the engineers were able
to cut the transmission costs in half.
Independence without peace
In April 1974, the “Carnation Revolution” in Portugal ended
the Caetano dictatorship and also paved the way for the independence of the colonies. Mozambique became independent
in 1975. Frelimo became the ruling party and began to support
the construction of the power plant. The first expansion stage
with 1,224 MW capacity was completed as planned and thehydropower plant began commercial operation on 26 March
1977. In June 1979, the last expansion stage was completed
and Cabora Bassa was finished on schedule after 10 years ofconstruction.
The political turmoils on the Zambezi, however, were notover yet. Now the guerrilla movement Renamo, supported by
the South African apartheid regime, began fighting the MarxistLeninist Frelimo government. What followed was a bloody,
16-year-long civil war. Around 900,000 people died and 1.7 million fled the country. Renamo also repeatedly attacked the infrastructure at Cabora Bassa, which became a ruin. Only in 1997,
after the end of the civil war, was Cahora Bassa (as it is spelledtoday) repaired and returned to operation. //Technical innovation lowers costs
In the meantime, the engineers were mastering technical challenges. They erected a six-kilometer-long overhead line fromthe platform at the cavern surface to the Songo plateau 600 meters above it, and connected it to a three-phase current substation and a converter station. Here, 220 kV three-phase current
was converted into 533 kV direct current for transport. A new

1	Manufacturing the turbines for Cabora Bassa
at the factory in Heidenheim.
2	The efforts of local workers were key tocompleting the plant on schedule.
3	New roads and tunnels were constructed to provide
easier access to the dam site during construction.

1
2

3

Ambitious goals versus critical voices
The Cabora Bassa construction site was situated at the end ofa gorge that is 18 kilometers long, 250 meters wide and 700
meters deep. Ambitious goals were attached to the construction of the reservoir and power plant. The Zambezi had been
made navigable over a length of 320 kilometers in order to allow for the transport of natural resources such as coal, iron,titanium, manganese, chromium and bauxite. There were
HyPower 2016 | 31

GLOBAL EXPERTISE

GLOBAL EXPERTISE

By controlling the movement of ring gates electronically,
Voith is ensuring the water flow through large turbines
can be stopped more effectively when required.

Voith has been successfully manufacturing and installing the ring gates thatstop water flowing through large Francis turbines for over 20 years. It is also
responsible for the key innovation inthat time – electronic control of the
opening and closing mechanism.

Ring gates (here in red) provide a useful addition for large Francis turbines,
where a spherical or butterfly valve would be too large.
32 | HyPower 2016

Essential stopping power
In some situations, such as a unit standstill or emergency failure, the flow of water through a Francis turbine must be
stopped. The distributor and wicket
gates act as a regulating and stopping
device, but to reduce leakage and deal
with a distributor failure, a second device is used – usually a spherical or butterfly valve. However, fitting these valves
to very large Francis turbines is impractical, because the size of the valve required makes them too heavy and difficult to transport and install. This is why
spherical valves are only manufactured
up to a diameter of not much more than
three meters. In addition, butterfly
valves, which can be built to a larger
size, can hinder the flow of water when
they are open and therefore reduce theeffectiveness of the turbine. The solution, when appropriate: the ring gate, acompact steel cylinder that is lighter,easier to transport, and can be put together on site. It also allows water toflow freely through the turbine when
open, enables a tight seal when closed,and eliminates leakage through the distributor and the associated erosion it
causes. This ensures full turbine efficiency, and prevents loss of energy
when the ring gate is closed, thereby
saving the plant owner money.
A tough engineering challenge
Designing and installing a ring gate andthe mechanism that moves it is a real
challenge, as Dr. Alexander Jung, Headof Turbine Development Methods, explains: “Opening and closing a ringgate requires the balancing of pressure
above and below the gate. Understanding the relationship between the speed
and pressure of water flow through thering gate, and the static and dynamic
forces that are created, is essential for
calculating the dimensions required forthe space between the ring gate and its
housing, and the forces that the different components must be designed towithstand. Maximum reliability and control are essential.”
Precise electronic control
In the past, ring gate movement wascontrolled mechanically, with several
spindles connected by a chain that ensured they rotated at the same speed.
However, this solution was sub-optimal,
as Thomas Neidhardt, Voith’s Head of
Turbine Basic Engineering explains:“The mechanical system was labor-intensive and expensive, and was lessreliable than customers wanted. That’s
why we developed an electronic system
to control odd or even numbers of oildriven servomotors that raise and lower
the ring gate. It’s a more efficient, precise and reliable solution when customers decide to use a ring gate.”
High demand from China
The first installation of the electronicallycontrolled system was in 1999 at the
Xiaolangdi plant in Jiyuan, Henan Province, China. Since then, it has been­refined and installed at six other largehydro plants in China. The largest ofthese, installed at Xiluodu, is around
10 meters across. “Our customers in
China demand the highest standards,
and require the ring gates to be easily
and completely closed in full flow conditions, even with a failing distributor.
That’s why they prefer our electronicallycontrolled system. They say they havenever seen another that is so precise,”confirms Neidhardt. //RING GATE PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ¹

p_upstream
p_downstream

p_garage

STOPPING THE FLOW

p_upstream
p_lip

p_downstream

p_upstream
p_downstream

The ring gate islowered through its
housing by theelectronically controlled servomotors. The pressures
above and below
the ring gate must
be equalized.

The pressure in thering gate housing(garage) is determined by the design and size of thegaps (deliberatecontrol of the pressure differentials
through leakage
flow regulation).

There is a strong
suction peak at thebottom as the ringgate closes. The
design and precise
position of the seal
prevents leakage
and unintentional
opening.

¹ simplified schematics
HyPower 2016 | 33

GLOBAL EXPERTISESERVICING AFRICA
Voith is investing in local African service personnel, toprovide hydro customers with rapid support acrossthe continent.

Randal Enns,
Managing Director, Voith Hydro in South Africa

34 | HyPower 2016

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS

Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba,
in Canada, Randal Enns has invaluable
experience working on hydropower
projects in Africa. Appointed to the roleas Managing Director of Voith Hydro inSouth Africa in January 2016, one ofhis most important current tasks is tobuild a service team with the potential
to cover small hydro installations
across the continent. “Of course, there
are some countries we don’t focus on,
due to safety and security issues, or
simply because the northernmost
countries in Africa are actually closer toEurope than we are. However, the clear
aim this year is to make sure Voith canstart covering as many service requirements as possible for our customers
with a locally based team,” says Enns.
By the end of 2016, Enns’s teamwill consist of two service engineers
and two sales engineers. He comments: “Our principle task is to establish our presence with potential clients,
who will be dependent on the talents ofthe team in Johannesburg.”“We spent some time working with
the Chattanooga division, and they
helped us plan what equipment wemight need,” Enns explains. “What
we’re trying to do is anticipate the workthat we’re going to get over the next
few years and have the equipment
ready.” This means that for the rest of
2016, the team is purchasing “machining tools,” to machine typical components for refurbishments, along withtools for workers.
This preparation will help ensure
Voith customers in Africa can benefit
continuously from Voith’s expanding capabilities. Enns concludes: “As timegoes on, we will develop our capacity
to serve customers optimally with offers
and implementation, and develop specialisms as customer needs dictate.” //The HyService Bus, packed with tools andthe experts to use them, is ready to go to theaid of Voith customers all over Europe.

24/7 MOBILE SERVICE
When its customers in western Europe have an issue, Voith
Hydro springs into action, thanks to the HyService Bus. The
brainchild of Florian Philipp, Engineer After Market Business,the specially converted Mercedes van contains every tool andinstrument required for hydropower machinery servicing. Each
item is intelligently and securely stored, but still easy to accessfor Philipp and his four colleagues, ensuring they can get towork as quickly as possible. As soon as a call comes in, Philipp
or a colleague is ready to jump into the van and go. And, with
40,000 kilometers traveled since its introduction in summer
2015, the HyService Bus has already fulfilled the urgent servicing needs of Voith customers all over the region. It has been so
successsful that another service bus has already been ordered.
All Florian Philipp needs to know now is: where to next? //HyPower 2016 | 35

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPSSUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS1

2
1	The run-of-river plant at Tulila.
2	The new machine unit on commissioning day.

THE POWER TO
CHANGE LIVES
Sponsored small hydro projects have transformed thelives of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Agnes in Tanzania
and the local communities they serve.

TulilaHydropower in Tulila
Installed capacity: 5 MW

The Tulila site is located near the town of Songea
in southwest Tanzania.

36 | HyPower 2016

It’s difficult for many of us who live inindustrialized nations to imagine daily
life without instant access to electricity.
But even in 2016, living without a regular power supply is still a reality for hundreds of millions of people. Until theturn of the 21st century, it was also afact of life for the 370 Benedictine
Sisters of St. Agnes at the Chipole­
Convent in the Ruvuma district of­southwestern Tanzania. All the moreastonishing given that they have devoted their lives to supporting the local
population with health, educational and­social services – without receiving anything in return.
Small beginnings
Around 15 years ago, Swiss benefactor
Robert Fuchs used his foundation tobuild a small 400 kW hydropower facility at the convent, to ensure the sisters
had a reliable flow of electricity. The facility proved to be more than adequate

for their needs – so much so, that following the death of Fuchs, his daughter
asked Albert Koch, a family friend, hydropower expert and private investor,
whether he could take a look at the siteand come up with ways of using the fullpotential of the plant. What happened
next turned out to be much more transformative than anyone involved could
have imagined.
Thinking bigger
By the time Albert Koch arrived in­Chipole, the sisters had bought a cornmill which was enabling them to makefull use of the power available to them.
But so inspired was he by the commitment of the sisters and their willingness
to work unpaid, he decided to investigate the possibility of a larger plant that
could potentially transform the financial
situation of the sisters and the lives ofthe local population. After consultingwith Sister Yoela Luambano, who en-“Before the plant was built, the power was­unreliable. Life is just so much easier for
everyone now.”
Sister Yoela Luambano
Benedictine Sisters of St. Agnes, Chipole Convent, Tanzania

thusiastically assumed much of the responsibility for the project, it became
clear that she would be able to securewater rights from the government for asecond plant, if a suitable location could
be found. ­After a couple of false starts,
they found what they were looking forwithin a few hours drive of the convent– a cascading river in the Tulila region.
With the location identified, thenext challenge was financing. Fortunately, the state-owned electricity supplier Tanesco was already planning topurchase power from external sources
to feed the main grid. Combined with amulti-million-dollar personal investment
from Koch, and a loan financed by
Credit Suisse Bank and insured by
Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV),the project quickly became viable.
Construction begins
With all the financing and licenses inplace, construction on the run-of-­river
plant, featuring an earth-filled dam andweir, could begin. The plant was to be
powered by up to three double regulated Kaplan turbines and electro­
mechanical equipment, all supplied by
Kössler, a subsidiary of Voith in ­Austria.
HyPower 2016 | 37

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPSIn addition, Swiss consulting firm
AF-Consult (formerly ITECO), which
had already been involved in projectplanning, took overall charge of the realization phase, right through to commissioning. The remote location of theconstruction site brought quite a few
challenges, as Kössler Project Manager
Karl Henninger remembers: “The arrivalof people and the transport of goods
had to be arranged in different stages.
All the parts were shipped from Hamburg to Dar es Salaam, where they
were put onto trucks and taken to thesite. The installation team, once they
arrived in Dar es Salaam, had to fly toSongea, the capital of the Ruvuma district, and then be driven to the site by
Jeep.” In fact, the whole construction

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS

phase was very much a team effort,
with the sisters themselves providing
support with import and customs formalities and logistics coordination, andby providing food and accommodationfor visiting European experts. They
even conducted blasting operations, as
one of the sisters is a trained explosives engineer.
From installation to commissioning
Initially, two turbines, delivered in September and October 2014, respectively,
were installed, with a total capacity of
5 MW (2 x 2.5 MW), and there is capacity for a third turbine to be installed,when the demand for power justifies it.
An important aspect of the installation
is its capacity for isolated operation.

1	The delighted local team at thecompletion of the project.
2	Construction was a challenge in thisremote region.

1
2

38 | HyPower 2016

The plant must serve the local grid covering the rural surroundings, and theturbines must keep running at minimum
performance in outage situations, in theevent that the grid fails – a frequent
occurrence. Commenting on the solution to this challenge, Karl Henninger
says: “Our constructing engineers
have enabled isolated operation by using enormous mechanical centrifugal
masses, a complex control system andan electronic load controller.”
Changing lives forever
Despite the challenges, installation began in January 2015 and, thanks to theexcellent collaboration between all the
project partners, the first electricity wasproduced at the end of the summer.
Currently, around 20 GWh are consumed from the total of 36 GWh produced annually by the two installed turbines – this explains why the installationof the third turbine is still on hold. But
even though all the power is not yet being used, the Tulila plant has changed
the lives of people in the region, and especially in the Ruvuma regional capital,
Songea, beyond recognition. Sister
Yoela comments: “Before the plant was
built, Songea was not an attractive destination, because the power was so unreliable. People had to work in half-day
shifts, and it sometimes took days before surgical operations at the hospital
could be performed. Now the doctors
can work much more quickly, and wehave new equipment such as X-ray machines, which help with diagnoses. Reliable electric light also enables local
children to study anytime, rather than
only during the day. Life is so mucheasier for everyone now.”
And the good news doesn’t stop
there. Sister Yoela is hopeful that she
and the sisters will soon be able to receive a salary thanks to the sale of excess power to Tanesco. And she is currently discussing plans with Albert Kochto help other convents in Tanzania
achieve a similar transformation. //THE BIG QUESTION:REPLACE OR REFURBISH?

 C Hydro's powerhouse at Ruskin,
Bin British Columbia, Canada.

Choosing to refurbish a power plant
rather than replace it – even one which is
decades old – can offer hydropowerfirms significant benefits.

Refurbishing equipment rather than replacing it can reduce
project costs and disruptions, and improve performance.
Even with machinery that is 60 or 80 years old, many parts
can be upgraded and reused. As a recognized expert in refurbishment, Voith is working on two such projects in Canada.
Hydro-Québec’s Rapides-des-Quinze: careful planningFounded in 1944, Hydro-Québec operates 63 power stations
throughout Québec, some of which have been running sincethe 1920s. One of these is Rapides-des-Quinze, which wasbuilt in 1923 and extended in 1949 and 1954, with a fifth andthen a sixth turbine. These later extensions are the two
HyPower 2016 | 39

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPSSUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS“We proposed reusing [the part],
realizing ­a ssociated cost savingsfor the customer.”needs the same refurbished and new parts as the first – andthe experience we’ve gained pays off in speed,” adds Wandrillede Saint Louvent.
The principal benefits for Hydro-Québec include a performance increase of 8% from each of the two refurbished­machines, along with reduced maintenance costs and effort.

Pierre-Alexandre Proulx
Voith Project Manager for Ruskin1­ reas Voith engineers have been working on. Time was lima
ited for each operation, but the machinery was over 60 years
old and needed significant upgrades.
The first step, conducted by the customer, was to analyze
the state of each main component and opt for replacement or
refurbishment. The team found that the generator was still inreasonable condition, although about 70% of its components
needed to be replaced. The turbine, with its 4.1 meter diameter, 17 runner blades and operating speed of 105.88 rpm, wasat the end of its lifecycle and needed to be replaced completely, and the same applied to the high-pressure pumps. In fact,
all the turbine components, with the exception of the turbine
shaft and its seal, which could be refurbished, are new.
Fast reconstruction required
Voith specialists conducted an in-depth inspection of the parts
to be refurbished to assess what actions were required, andhow they should be executed. They then proposed an optimized hydraulic profile that required some turbine parts to be
replaced, rather than refurbished as originally planned. Once
the Voith specialists had taken delivery of the replacement
parts, they quickly rebuilt the machine using a combination ofthese new parts and other refurbished components.
“Because the site installation schedule required in the request for a proposal was very challenging, Voith suggested
that a two shift schedule of specialists worked 20/6. This wasa big differentiator for Voith in winning the project,” says Wandrille de Saint Louvent, the Voith project manager heading up
the team. “Hydro-Québec was very happy about this as it met
their own production requirements.”
Hydro-Québec: better performance with lower costs
The Rapides-des-Quinze project is on the home stretch now,with the first machine commissioned in September 2016 andthe second planned for an outage in March 2017. “The component of the second unit will be completed more quickly as it
40 | HyPower 2016

2

Ruskin: only Voith proposed refurbishment
In British Columbia (BC), BC Hydro is working with Voith to refurbish their Ruskin powerhouse. Built in 1930, Ruskin is older
than the extended areas of Rapides-des-Quinze that Voith
worked on in Québec, and it had barely been modernizedsince its construction. The plant’s three power units needed asignificant overhaul, including new turbine runners, new wicket
gates and operating system, a new stator (frame, core andwinding), and rotor refurbishment. One of the biggest challenges at Ruskin was that the powerhouse is very small, complicating disassembly and reassembly. While BC Hydro always preferred refurbishment over replacement for the project, Voith
was the only supplier to recommend reusing the rotor frame,
rather than replacing it. “We could see that not every part of it
was damaged, so we proposed reusing it, realizing associatedcost savings for the customer”, says Voith project manager
Pierre-­Alexandre Proulx.

Close collaboration with the customer
The first step in 2012 was close collaboration between Voith
and BC Hydro teams to perform an in-depth inspection of oneof the units. Voith provided BC Hydro with a detailed report on
every part of the machine and recommendations for replacement or refurbishment. Based on that knowledge, BC Hydro
was able to define the exact project scope. The second
phase, initiated in 2013, comprised the design, manufacturing, supply and installation of components for each of thethree machines. Despite the lack of space and the proximityof the machines to one another, at the time of publication, thefirst unit is ready for final commissioning, and the second unit
is scheduled for commissioning by mid-October 2016. The
third unit is scheduled for commissioning in early 2017.
Competitive pricing – but it’s the value that counts“Our proposal was competitive, but apparently we weren’t theleast expensive,” notes Pierre-Alexandre Proulx. “For BC
Hydro, the added value aspect was key.”
These two projects help to demonstrate the many benefits of refurbishment – even on very old units – for hydropowercompanies who may not have considered this. Voith hascompleted so many of these projects that it is a leader in thefield, further reducing cost and risk for customers. // turbine distributor is removed
Afrom the powerhouse at
Rapides-des-Quinze in Quebec,
Canada.

1	The powerhouse at Ruskin is narrow – a big challenge
when disassembling and assembling machinery.
2	Voith engineers conducted an in-depth inspection at the
beginning of the project.

HyPower 2016 | 41

INNOVATIONWORLD OF VOITH
The latest news from across the divisions of the Voith Group.

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
The date: 1 April 2016. The occasion: The official start of operations for the
new Group Division Voith Digital Solutions. With a mission to consolidate allof the Group’s know-how in the field of automation and digitalization, thefocus will be on the development of new digital business models for industries that Voith currently serves, as well as for completely new ones.
Dr. Roland Münch, President & CEO of Voith Digital Solutions, is excitedabout the future: “I’m looking forward to working with an excellent team ofexperienced colleagues who are making the new Group Division into an
important pillar for Voith.” //Operator stations for sound-based monitoring.

SAFE AND SOUND
In the very near future, unmanned hydropower plants
will get first-hand remote support, thanks to a Voith
innovation: sound-based monitoring.

Keeping an eye on how a plant is operating is vital for all Voith Hydro customers. However, keeping an ear on it iseven more important, as mechanicalproblems can often be heard before
they can be seen. The issue is, sending
technicians around a plant to listen foranything unusual is time-consuming,­expensive and intermittent – especially if
the plant is in a very remote location.
Listening is the key
One of HyGuard’s key developers is
Rudolf Münch, and he uses the comparison of a mechanic assessing a car
to describe the approach he and hiscolleagues have taken. “About 50 % ofwhat a mechanic finds out about yourcar comes from listening for potential
42 | HyPower 2016

problems. HyGuard applies this principle to hydropower plants.”
HyGuard technology works througha series of sensors installed at strategic
locations around a remote, unmanned
power plant. The system records
sounds, which operators – perhaps
based hundreds of kilometers away –can assess for any abnormal noises.
And if, for example, one of the sensors
sets off an alarm, the operator canmake a quick assessment, and immediately send the recording to an expert foranalysis anywhere in the world.
Self-learning systems
So far, so clever – but there is more.
“The second part,” says Münch, “is that
if the same problem occurs repeatedly,

the system will recognize the soundfrom previous failures.” In short, the system has “self-learning” capabilities.
“Sounds have different properties,
and in the case of the rotating machineryin a hydropower plant, a lot of information is hidden in lots of different frequencies,” explains Münch. “The application
checks for general patterns in thefrequencies, such as those that work­
together or don’t. These patterns are­learnt, along with new patterns. Subsequently, the application compares thepatterns to discover what is abnormal.”
Pilots already planned
The first series of tests, consisting of microphones recording sounds for several
days at a time, have already been carriedout successfully at a hydropower plant inGermany. The next stage is to install thetechnology permanently at a pilot plantlater this year, also in Germany.
Once the experts have sufficient experience with the pilot, the technology canbe offered worldwide including in remote plants in Africa as part of our new
service concept. “With long distancesand variable transport infrastructure,
remote monitoring there makes perfectsense,” concludes Münch. //PAPERMAKING:
NEXT LEVEL

COOL DESIGN
Tractor manufacturer Fendt is using a new cooling technology in its latest
1000 Vario series tractor – powered by a high-performance fan designed
by Voith. With up to 500 HP on tap, the Fendt 1000 Vario is the world’s
most powerful standard tractor, and that generates a lot of heat. The Voith
fan is positioned in front of the cooler unit and the engine, drawing higherdensity cold air from outside the vehicle and further compressing it throughthe high aerodynamic efficiency. This increases the pressure in relation to
the intake configuration and produces an enormous air flow of up to 7m³/s
for enhanced cooling – and all using less than half the energy of a standard
fan. Together with the company’s established Hydrodamp vibration damper, Voith technology is making a big contribution to the operating efficiency
and longevity of Fendt’s latest and greatest tractors. //Voith Paper certainly had the hot topics covered at the recent Voith Paper Customer
Symposium in Hamburg. Under the banner“Transformance – Papermaking 4.0,” 18
speakers explored the opportunities thatnew technologies bring when it comes to
producing paper more profitably and competitively. The key ingredient to maximizingthese opportunities, according to Bertram
Staudenmaier, Chairman of the Management
Board of Voith Paper: “A strong partnershipwith our customers for shared success.”­Innovations in improving performance, transforming existing production methods, guaranteeing efficiency and availability throughmodern servicing, and the impact of digitization on paper manufacturing were all discussed in detail. “There are exciting tasks
and challenges ahead of us that we will­approach and master together,” concluded
Bertram Staudenmaier. //HyPower 2016 | 43

GUEST PERSPECTIVE

GUEST PERSPECTIVE

Each filter is printed with usage
instructions. A family of fourneeds roughly one filter per week.

CREATING
THE SAFE WATERBOOK™
Materials and environmental chemist
Dr. Theresa Dankovich has created apaper-based water filter, deliveredin book form, that could give hundredsof millions of people access to safe
drinking water.

Dr. Theresa Dankovich isthe co-founder, chairwoman,and chief scientist for Folia
Water, a benefit corporation
dedicated to the scaling anddistribution of a new technology, The Safe Water Book™,
which uses s­ ilver nanoparticles to filter out bacteria
from natural water sources,
making that water safe todrink and providing educational text on water safety.

44 | HyPower 2016

Dr. Dankovich started out as a materials chemist, rather thanan environmental one. While studying for her PhD, she joined
the Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network, a research network
connecting Canadian universities that are investigating waysof adding value to paper. These potential value adds include,for example, using paper as a dipstick for pathogens or eliminating toxins from agricultural runoff. But Dr. Dankovich had a
specific interest, as she explains: “My focus was on the antimicrobial applications of paper for water filtration. I started the
project in 2008.”
The Safe Water Book™ is born
Over several years, Dr. Dankovich experimented with different
types of papers and a biocide containing silver nanoparticles
to create a filter paper that eliminates bacteria from water
sources. Her laboratory experiments consistently proved thatthe filters were removing 100 % of the bacteria in the water
samples. After graduation from McGill University in 2012,
Dr. Dankovich joined the University of Virginia as a postdoctoral researcher in 2013, where she conducted field trials forthe first time.
Test case: South Africa“In 2013, we took the filters, which look a bit like orange-­colored tortillas, to a range of natural water sources in South
Africa. We sampled water from a number of places and tookbacteria counts before and after filtration. We then repeated thetests in Ghana, Bangladesh and Honduras. And we got theresults we wanted. That’s when I knew we had a product withthe potential to save lives.” Importantly, Dr. Dankovich has consistently asked people in each community about their needs,
and how they would use the product, because assumptions
and customs in every country are so different. And this knowledge has been instrumental in turning her work into a potentially viable commercial product – the Safe Water Book™.
A book that can literally save lives
The Safe Water Book™ binds multiple “pages” together, eachof which can be torn out and used to filter up to 100 liters ofwater at a rate of two liters every 10 minutes. “At typical consumption rates, each page enables a family of four to filter all
the drinking water they need for a week. Each page is also
printed with information on why it makes sense to filter drinking
water, and how to use the book to do so,” says Dr. Dankovich.
In a world in which hundreds of millions of people don’t
have regular access to clean drinking water, the potential ofsuch a simple idea to prevent illness and save lives is obvious.
And importantly for developing countries, where clean drinking water is often particularly scarce, the filters are also affordable. Dr. Dankovich comments, “We are producing the paperon pilot-sized paper machines, where the cost of producing
each page is only between 10 and 20 cents. Once we haveeven greater scale, we expect this cost to fall significantly.”
Commercial launch planned for 2016
In 2016, Dr. Dankovich formed a Pennsylvania Benefit Corporation, Folia Water, to bring the Safe Water Book™ to market.
A pilot project is currently running in South Africa, and thiswill be followed by a similar project in Honduras, where
Dr. Dankovich is collaborating with local doctors. “We’re also
working with non-profits like Water is Life to spread the word,
and we have a sponsorship program, where people can buy
the books to donate to communities in need. Right now, it’s
all about building awareness, getting samples out there andcollecting final feedback before the launch, which we hope
will happen by early next year,” she adds.
The only other immediate challenge is fulfilling all the relevant regulatory requirements. But Dr. Dankovich is hopeful that
this will be achieved soon – not least because she sees hugeneed for the product all over the world. “I hope that in 5 years
we will be distributing the Safe Water Book™ globally, including in rural regions of India and China, where the populations
and demand for clean drinking water are so vast.” A bold ambition, and one that deserves all the attention it receives. //http://www.foliawater.com
HyPower 2016 | 45

FIVE QUESTIONSFIVEQUESTIONS
FOR …
Dr. Tobias Keitel
New Chief Operations Officer of Voith Hydro

1

What new perspectives on the hydro business haveyou gained since becoming COO, and how has yourprevious hydropower experience helped you?
The basic principles of project business don’t change, no matter how many projects you are responsible for, so my experience is definitely helping me in this respect. The new role has
given me a more global perspective, as I am now responsible
for all projects across the different Operating Units, and I am
more aware of market differences. The US is definitely leadingin the modernization business and we have a very strong presence in this sector. In China and Canada, the sheer size of theplants and the market volume are impressive.

2

What do you think are the industry’s biggest challenges?
Energy is one of the most important issues of our time.
One global challenge in the coming decades will be generating
more energy while keeping CO emissions low. This is related²
to a second major challenge; ensuring the stability of the grid,
despite the growing but fluctuating input from solar and windenergy. Hydropower offers an excellent solution to both issues.
I believe that a prerequisite for this is to improve theoften conflicting image of hydro plants. On the one hand,hydropower is seen positively, because the energy comesfrom renewable resources. On the other, hydropower plant
construction attracts protests, and hydropower is not classified as 100 % renewable. I hope that, together with our customers, we can strengthen a more positive public image forhydropower.
46 | HyPower 2016

3

What makes you passionate about hydropower?
The huge dimensions and often beautiful surroundingsof our construction sites. As an engineer, it is fascinating to be involved in these projects, and it’s rewarding to workin a sector that produces clear value: hydropower plants
generate clean and sustainable electricity from renewable­­resources.

VOITH HYDRO PROJECTS IN THIS ISSUE
Throughout Africa, Voith is leading hydropower projects that help local
governments and communities drive economic growth and social improvements.

Helping Liberia rebuild its power
infrastructure after years of civil war.
PAGE 19

MOUNT COFFEE
Helping a convent in Tanzania
generate its own electricity andtransform the community. PAGE 36

4

What do you like best about Voith Hydro?
Our history and pride in what we have achieved over
the years. We are a market leader, and we can solve
any technological problem. I also like Voith’s medium-sizedcompany character, and the strong bonds between employees who have worked here for many years. This creates apleasant working environment and a strong foundation.

5

The main focus of this edition is Africa. What connects you to the continent?
I was very involved in the Ingula project last year, apumped storage plant in South Africa, which we managed toturn into a fantastic success after striving long and hard­together with our customer. That was a good feeling. //Dr. Tobias Keitel studied industrial engineering and holds an MBA. Previously, he was with Boston Consulting Group and MAN Ferrostaal AG,
before joining Voith Hydro as a project manager in 2011. He held various
management positions before he was appointed Chief Operations Officer
of Voith Hydro in January 2016.

TULILACAMBAMBE
Expanding hydropower capacity in
Angola to support rapid economic
growth. PAGE 12

The turbulent history of a plant inMozambique. PAGE 30

CAHORA BASSABOKSBURG
INGULA

Investing in local service teams thatwill cover many countries in Africa.
PAGE 34

Improving power supply reliability
with a pumped storage plant in South
Africa. PAGE 8

HyPower 2016 | 47

Customer Magazine byVoith Hydro Holding GmbH & Co. KG
Alexanderstr. 1189522 Heidenheim
Germany
www.voithhydro.com
A Voith and Siemens Company