200-ton challenge
The state-owned Venezuelan utility company, Electricidad del Caroní (EDELCA) operates three large hydropower plants with an overall output of some 15,500 MW and accounts for 70% of Venezuela’s electricity production.
The project
Plant:
Guri II – Central hidroeléctrica Simón Bolívar, Venezuela
Construction:
1963-1969, 1976-1986 (expansion)
Output:
10,300 MW
ANDRITZ HYDRO’s scope of supply:
modernization of five 
Francis turbine runners by 2013
Hydropower is the main source of renewable energy
Around one-fifth of electricity production worldwide comes from renewable energy sources, approximately 90% thereof from hydropower. Thus, hydropower accounts for approximately 18% of overall electricity production, making it by far the most important source of renewable energy (wind and solar: 2%; Source: IHA/IEA).
More than 50% of Venezuela’s energy consumption are generated at the Guri hydropower plant
Modernization of the power plant taps previously unused energy reserves in an eco-friendly project, thus making an effective contribution towards reducing global warming and to worldwide environmental protection. The modernization will increase the plant’s output by around 10%.
The Guri power plant (with a total output of 10,300 MW) will cover over 50% of Venezuela’s entire power demand. On behalf of the Venezuelan utility company Electricidad del Caroní (EDELCA), ANDRITZ HYDRO is to modernize five machines in the Guri II project by 2013 and thus increases the plant’s output by around 10%.
200 people from eight different countries involved in turbine disassembly
At the beginning of the project, all plant components were disassembled and thoroughly checked. Those parts that can be reused were refurbished on site together with local partners, while parts in need of replacement were manufactured new, complying with the most stringent international quality standards. Over 200 people from eight different countries were involved on the construction site in disassembly and refurbishing work alone.
The comprehensive project documentation also had to be compiled when the project began – it currently comprises more than 500 technical drawings and documents, each in English and Spanish, and provides the basic information for the complex approval process.
Manufacture of a giant: 3.7 meters high – 7.4 meters in diameter – weighing 200 tons
In 2009, the first of a total of five new turbine runners for Guri II was produced in a three-shift operation in Ravensburg, Germany – an enormous challenge, even for one of the world’s leading manufacturing locations in the hydropower sector. Due to the exceptional dimensions of the runners, a new, high load-bearing, articulated inspection system was also installed so that the runners could be ideally positioned for welding work. With this equipment, the 200-ton runner can be turned through its own axis and also tilted in the horizontal plane at the same time.
Top quality combined with cost efficiency
A high-performance welding process (electroslag welding) is used to weld the runner blades to the crown and band. This high-quality welding process can handle extremely large welding volumes while maintaining cost efficiency – around 4.5 tons of high-alloyed welding filler will be needed for each of the Guri II runners.
11,000 kilometer journey from Germany to Venezuela
After a two-month journey, the first of the turbine runners to be manufactured finally arrived from Ravensburg at the GuriII power plant near Puerto Ordaz in the autumn
of 2009. Weeks were spent on preparing the extensive customs formalities and frequently difficult transport stages:
- A 32-axle articulated truck with 1,400 horsepower carries the runner over a defined heavy-load route through southern Germany in several night runs; a highway has to be partly closed for several hours.
- The journey continues by inland waterway on the Neckar and Rhine rivers up to the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands.
- After crossing the Atlantic, the route continues for some 350 kilometers along the inland waterway leading up the Orinoco River towards the Guri reservoir.
- For the final stretch to the power plant, two bridges have to be reinforced in order to guarantee safe onward transport by road.
The two-month long journey by the turbine runner from Germany to Venezuela started on a 32-axle articulated truck.
