New agreement with the Austrian power company
For the past several years, the Austrian power company has been planning to build a new Gratkorn hydro power plant (HPP) on the Mura River in the vicinity of Graz. However, due to a challenging process of obtaining all necessary permits, the commencement of the project has been postponed several times. Our company KONČAR – Generators and Motors took part in the preparation of the project by providing support with respect to the optimization of the technical generators’ characteristics of the future power plant.
At the beginning of 2020, a call for tenders for electromechanical equipment was published, where the equipment could also be offered in separate lots. KONČAR – Generators and Motors was one of the tenderers, and it was ultimately selected as the supplier of equipment and works.
![Gratkorn hydro power plant](/sites/default/files/inline-images/he-gratkom-austrija.jpg)
The contracted scope of work also includes the delivery of two new generators, each with a power of 7 MVA, a speed of 107.14 rpm and a voltage of 5.3 kV, a contactless excitation system of the company KONČAR – Electronics and Informatics, spare parts, special tools and devices used for equipment installation and assembly, commissioning and pre-commissioning.
The special feature of the power plant is that it does not include a crane bridge. Therefore, all equipment will be lowered into the engine room through an opening on its roof by using a mobile crane. Construction work will commence in September 2021. Items pertaining to the first generator are to be taken over at the factory in March 2023, those pertaining to the second one a month later, while the completion of field work for both generators is scheduled for February 2024.
In addition, KONČAR also contracted the design and delivery of the first of three new replacement generators and associated equipment for HPP Ering-Frauenstein, located on the Inn River on the border between Germany and Austria. The second generator is expected to be ordered at the end of this year.
KONČAR – Generators and Motors is also in the process of realizing six other contracts for German and Austrian markets.