Voith Hydro to Overhaul Generator Fleet of Kraftwerke Hinterrhein

Representatives from the directorate and the advisory board affirmed this on the occasion of signing the contract last Wednesday in Heidenheim. The contract value runs up to 32 million Euro. It is the biggest individual order of the overall amount KHR will invest in the complete overhaul of its power plant fleet.

„We are glad to make the plants of KHR fit for the future. Electricity production from renewable sources like wind and solar needs additional potential in order to stabilize the grids and to assure security of supply. For this kind of peak load balance hydro power is the energy source par excellence,” said Martin Andrae, till September 30 Chief Executive Officer of Voith Hydro in Heidenheim at the occasion of his last signing ceremony in this position. As of October 1 he became Head of Voith Hydro s Chinese unit in Shanghai.

All the plants of KHR supply electricity for peak loads, for instance in accordance with day-times of high electricity consumption and in order to balance the intermittencies in electricity production from wind and solar energy. Thus, they assure security of supply and grid stability.

The power plant fleet of KHR consists of four hydro plants that bring a very large range of technological requirements: Sils (4x60 MW) and Baerenburg (4x55 MW) use vertical high-pressure Francis-units, Ferrera uses horizontal pump-storage units with motor-generators (3x63 MW turbine capacity, and an overall pumping capacity of 90 MW), while Thusis is a small hydro power plant (2 and 4 MW respectively).