Toshiba Corporation (6502.T) announced that its US subsidiary, Toshiba International Corporation (TIC), has signed a major contract with Consumers Energy and Detroit Edison for the major overhaul of hydroelectric power equipment at the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant in Michigan, one of the world’s largest pumped-storage hydroelectric power plants.
The contract has a value of approximately US$500 million.
Ludington Pumped Storage Plant was built between 1969 and 1973, and at that time was the world’s largest pumped-storage hydro plant. It was initially completed with hydro power equipment from other manufacturers, but Toshiba has been selected as supplier for this upgrade, the most comprehensive in the plant’s history.
The scope of work covers the replacement of six 312MW pump turbines and upgrades of their motor generators and associated equipment and will boost output up to 50MW per unit.
Installation of the new equipment will start in June 2013 and all units are expected to be commissioned and on line by the end of 2019. Design engineering for the project will be done at Toshiba’s Keihin Product Operations in Japan, and most of the equipment will be manufactured at Toshiba Hydro Power (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. (THPC), a consolidated subsidiary of Toshiba in China. The runner, the main component of the hydraulic turbine, weighs approximately 260 metric tons and has a diameter of about 8.4 meters, and is the world’s heaviest and largest runner for a pumped storage hydro power plant.
Pumped storage hydroelectric generation supports electricity utilities in load balancing to meet fluctuations in electricity demand. Energy is essentially stored as the water that drives the turbines. During times of low demand, typically at night, the water is pumped from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir, and it is released to flow into a waterway and to drive the turbines during times of peak demand.
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