France's Alstom has inked agreement with South African utility to retrofit Koeberg nuclear power station
– By Linton Levy –
Alstom has announced that it has signed a contract worth approximately EUR 125 Million (USD $161.4 Million) with South Africa’s state-owned utility Eskom to retrofit the low-pressure turbines of the two 970 MWe units at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, South Africa’s sole nuclear power plant.
The retrofit will increase the station’s power output by over 65 MW, improve availability and reliability, as well as extend the lifetime of the plant. The retrofits will be carried out during planned refuelling outages, thus reducing the chance of interruption to generation from the station.
“We are pleased to have this opportunity to further build on our relationship with Eskom through the supply of the retrofit for their two steam turbines,” said Guy Chardon, Senior Vice President, Alstom Turbomachines group. “We believe nuclear energy offers a carbon-free, efficient, viable alternative for meeting increasing demand for energy.”
Eskom and Alstom have worked together on previous projects such as the retrofitting of the Arnot power plant, an integrated retrofit project providing a capacity increase to that station of more than 300 MW. Eskom recently placed orders for new equipment contracts with Alstom for the Medupi and Kusile coal fired power plants producing 4800 MW each.
As the world’s leading supplier of nuclear turbine systems and its position as world leader in nuclear retrofits, Alstom has installed more than 180 new turbine islands and retrofitted 220 rotors on nuclear plants worldwide. More than 40% of the world’s nuclear power stations operating today use Alstom-made equipment. In South Africa, Alstom has a 100-year presence and is a leader in the country’s turbine generator business. Alstom turbines generate 80% of South Africa’s installed capacity.