February 2 (SeeNews) - General Electric (GE) Power Services said on Thursday it plans to complete the modernisation of Serbian coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) Nikola Tesla A this year.
The project includes a steam turbine retrofit and commissioning of upgraded equipment which will help increase power output, reduce operational and maintenance costs and lower plant carbon footprint through less coal consumption, the company told SeeNews in an e-mailed statement.
The steam turbine retrofit is expected to start in May 2017, and the commissioning of the upgraded equipment is scheduled for October 2017.
GE Power Services will also provide a new turbine governing controller system and will commission a WT23S-106 generator unit, 3-D blades, new rotors, rotary blades, stationary blades, inner and outer casings and other associated parts.
“The steam turbine retrofit will give a new lifetime cycle after 250,000 operating hours and increase power output by 24 MW,” the general manager of Serbian state-run power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), Milorad Grcic, said in the statement.
The operating life of the steam turbine unit will be extended for an additional 100,000 operating hours, and the maintenance intervals between major overhauls will be extended to nearly ten years.
With a capacity of 1,502 MW, Nikola Tesla A, operated by EPS, is the largest coal-fired power plant in Serbia. It is equipped with two LMZ steam turbines with a capacity of 210 MW each and four 308-MW GE units.
Nikola Tesla A is part of the TENT power generation complex, which also includes the TPP Nikola Tesla B, TPP Morava and TPP Kolubara power plants.