Replacement of hydropower unit #10 has been completed at the Votkinskaya HPP

5 june 2023

Replacement of hydropower unit #10 has been completed at the Votkinskaya HPP. It is the seventh fully upgraded hydropower unit out of ten at the plant. The work has been carried out under the Program of Complex Modernization of RusHydro hydropower plants.

The new hydropower unit with improved technical characteristics was manufactured by the Russian company Siloviye Mashiny and is distinguished by reliability and high environmental safety. On completing the tests required by the regulatory documentation, the hydropower unit will be re-graded to indicate a capacity increase from 100 MW to 115 MW.

Hydropower unit #10 was put into operation in 1963; it was in service for almost 60 years and reached a high degree of wear. In the course of work which took about a year, the hydro turbine, generator and auxiliary equipment were replaced and the automatic control system of the hydropower unit was upgraded. The installation was performed by JSC Gidroremont-VKK, a subsidiary of RusHydro,

The Votkinskaya HPP Program of Complex Modernization includes the replacement of all ten hydropower units. The first unit was put into operation in 2017, thereafter new units were commissioned every year. Completion of the work will increase the capacity of the power plant to 1,150 MW, or by 13%. The plant upgrade goes beyond hydropower equipment – the replacement of power transformers, switchgear equipment and spillway gates of the dam has already been completed.

RusHydro is implementing the Program of Complex Modernization (PCM) of hydropower facilities that plans to replace half of the turbines, generators and transformers at its HPPs and PSPPs. Such a large-scale program of upgrading obsolete and worn-out equipment is unique and unprecedented in the domestic power industry. It is distinguished by a focus not on selective replacement of individual units and assemblies, but on a comprehensive modernization of hydropower generation facilities as a single technological system with the replacement or upgrade of the main and auxiliary equipment, plant service systems and hydraulic structures.

Over 11 years of the PCM, the installed capacity of RusHydro’s hydropower plants has increased by 565 MW, which is comparable to another large HPP added to the energy holding. 133 hydro turbines, 119 generators, 95 power transformers as well as over 10,000 units of auxiliary equipment have been replaced or upgraded over this time.