The first industrial unit of VA TECH HYDRO's ECOBulb™ turbine generator unit was put successfully into commercial operation in Aubas, central France, on October 31, 2002. The private customer Mr. Farges is enthusiastic about his new unit and has already received several visits of interested private energy producers.

The first project consisted in replacing a damaged asynchronous generator in a forty years old unit with a modern permanent magnetic rotor and a new stator. No changes were made on the hydraulics, providing a unique opportunity to measure the increase in generator efficiency. Other minor modifications in the water tightness concept and in the synchronizing of the unit were also made in order to increase the reliability and minimize the maintenance. All of the ECOBulb™´s electrical and mechanical features like power output, power factor and quality of power currently equate to VA TECH HYDRO´s calculations.

This gives a sound basis for further development of the ECOBulb™ range.

310

380

3.2

214

   1,000

1,320