Thus, achieving an important goal for the customer and the whole project team – the completion of the first four units by the end of 2022.
Originally built in the 1930s, the power plant is located into the heart of Bressanone, in a cavern next to the Rienza River. ANDRITZ signed the contract for Bressanone with Alperia Green Power, a major player in Italy’s energy market based in South Tyrol, in December 2019. The scope of contract consisted of the complete modernization of the power plant including supply of three new vertical 34 MW Francis turbines, one 18 MW turbine, five spherical valves with associated pressure relief valves and four new generators, with 44 MVA and 21 MVA capacity, respectively. The modernization also included the supply and installation of new Balance of Plant (BoP), EPS and automation.
The project proved very challenging from the beginning due to the tight time schedule, which called for the parallel installation of two units and common BoP in 2021, and two units in 2022. In addition, the limited space in the cavern made the work considerably more difficult and required special attention during installation and logistics. The project also included the supply of four butterfly valves with a diameter of 3,000 mm, placed in a cavern on top of the penstock. It was necessary to dismantle the existing valves and install the new ones including new BoP within only four months. This works has been successfully executed in 2022, in parallel with the other activities in the powerplant.
For both companies, this project was the first public contract where many restrictions and regulations had to be complied with. For example, more than 30 subcontractors had to be accredited, which presented a major documentation management challenge.
The work on-site was also affected by the Covid pandemic, but thanks to the countermeasures taken, the work on site was carried out without any peculiar problems for people and works progress.
The project was a real teamwork between several ANDRITZ locations: ANDRITZ Hydro in Italy as the consortium leader took responsibility for the design and production of the turbines, MIVs and BoP including supervision, installation, and commissioning of the units. ANDRITZ Hydro in Weiz, Austria, performed the basic engineering of the generators and ANDRITZ Hydro in India developed the detailed engineering, generator manufacturing and transportation to Europe. Despite the complexity of logistics, transportation from India worked well. This was possible thanks to the timely production of the generators and thanks to the experience and commitment of the people working in the logistics departments of all the locations involved.
In early 2023, the customer conducted performance tests on all four machine sets, and the results were all in line with the contractually guaranteed values. Still in progress is the modernization of the fifth machine set, the twin of the fourth, which includes the supply of the turbine, main inlet valve and BoP, and the refurbishment of the generator. The completion of this work is scheduled for October 2023.
The Bressanone contract confirmed the good relationship with Alperia over the past decade and laid a solid basis for the subsequent two contracts we received - San Floriano and Lana.
This first experience with public contract law allowed us to gain important management competences which will be an advantage for future contracts.
-------
