VA TECH HYDRO has been awarded a substantial contract for the equipment as well as the engineering, supply and installation of the Rapide des Cèdres dam in Quebec by Brascan Energie Services Inc.
The scope of the contract includes two slant upstream shaft axial units (CAT at 34°), two parallel shaft stepup gears, two medium voltage generators, the intake structure and the short penstocks, the intake gates, the electrical equipment plus the services of engineering, erection and commissioning. VA TECH HYDRO joint forces with the Lasalle Laboratory of Montreal and conducted a complete CFD study of the intake shape and conditions to optimise the flow pattern upstream of the turbine.
A great challenge of these units is the large head variation between 3.76 and 11.00 m at constant flow, inducing changing velocity patterns in the trash racks and intakes coupled with its siphon operation mode, which occurs over a few months each year. Delivery of the units has commenced and the commissioning is scheduled for mid 2005.
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