Renewable Energy World Asia 2015 Conference

Sessions Speakers

Large Kaplan Units – Case Study Xayaburi (Room Jupiter 8)

In many countries with not yet completely explored hydraulic potential, there are large rivers with very high flow rates. From the economic, ecologic and environmental point of view large units with high discharge are the best solution for projects on such large rivers. The investment for a high number of small machines would be bigger than the investment for less but larger machines. These large Kaplan projects are defined by the need of high efficiency as well as very good cavitation performance within the whole operating range, which is usually very big for such rivers, due to extreme head variations during a year. Also the environmental aspect, especially the topic fishfriendly design, benefits from a smaller number of larger machines with a lower speed. The need of an extremely optimized solution is given and therefor all technical knowledge needs to be completely explored and brought to its limits. This article describes, as a case study for such large Kaplan units, the project Xayaburi and the design of the environmental-friendly hydraulic components as well as the model test. ANDRITZ Hydro received in 2012 an order from CH. Karnchang (Lao) Company Ltd. to supply the electromechanical equipment for the Xayaburi run-of-river hydropower station. Xayaburi Power Plant is located in Laos at the Mekong River. ANDRITZ Hydro will deliver seven Kaplan turbines (hydroelectric power production for EGAT), an additional Kaplan turbine (hydroelectric power production for EdL), generators and governors, automation systems and additional equipment. Two fully homologous model tests were performed in 2013 in the ANDRITZ Hydro laboratory in Linz/Austria. Tests regarding efficiency, cavitation, runaway speed, pressure pulsation, runner blade and wicket gate torque were performed during the homologous model test. Concluding, the paper shows measurement methods for proofing the power at site.