Overhaul of equipment was completed at TGC-1's Belomorskaya HPP

In December 2018, the overhaul of the plant's water intake house was completed at Belomorskaya HPP of the Vyg HPPs Cascade. The emergency and repair spillway gates with special load-lifting machines were assembled at hydroelectric generating unit No. 3.

The project included installation of a debris guard and additional shields in order to reduce the hight of the gate's sections. This allowed us to transform the existing technological niches into aeration pipes.

The design of a new gate and control automation provide another convenient solution — automatic stops of liftings in the “bypass zone” required for the smooth filling of the hydroelectric generating unit's drained spiral chamber.

The new equipment is divided into three sections, which will simplify further dismantling, edging and moving the gate's elements into the repair area.

"Now, only one employee is required to work with the gate. Previously, a team of repairmen was required — the former equipment was raised and lowered with the help of a travelling crane. Currently, it takes minutes. The most important thing is that the rope mechanisms are equipped with centrifugal brake regulator, allowing to discharge the gates in an emergency situation, which will ensure another protection of the units during the acceleration," says Gennady Kuznetsov, Head of the Belomorskaya and Vygostrovskaya HPPs of TGC-1.

A number of complex and time-consuming sub-stages were required to implement the design solutions. In particular, the equipment was successfully tested and put into operation at Belomorskaya HPP in the spring of 2017 — a new repair gate installed in the grooves of the intake screens. It kept the pressure of the water-storage basin during the overhaul.

Next year similar works on installation of new emergency and repair spillway gates will be started on hydroelectric generating unit No. 2.

Reference

Belomorskaya HPP is located on the Lower Vyg River and is a part of of the Vyg HPPs Cascade. The first unit was put into temporary operation on 1 December 1962. The plant has been operating at full capacity since August 1963.

TGC-1 is a leading producer and supplier of electricity and heat in the North-West of Russia. TGC-1 comprises 53 power plants within four constituent entities of the Russian Federation: St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia, and Leningrad and Murmansk Oblasts.