By Renewable Energy Focus staff

The agreement follows an earlier Strategic Cooperation Agreement signed between Alstom and RusHydro in December 2010.

Alstom will carry out the rehabilitation of electro and hydro mechanical equipment as well as install a new instrumentation and control system. Its partner OEK will be responsible for all civil works at the hydropower plant.

The rehabilitation project may take between 6 to 10 years. Part of the equipment to modernise the Cascade of Kubansky hydropower plants could be provided by the joint hydropower manufacturing facility to be built by RusHydro and Alstom in Ufa City, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia.

The factory will be oriented to production of hydrogenerating equipment for small hydropower plants, as well equipment for distributed control systems (DCS), condition monitoring systems, excitation systems for hydro generators and integrated site security systems. The enterprise will also be producing equipment for medium HPP, and pumped storage power plants.

The Kubansky Cascade hydropower plant complex, RusHydro’s subsidiary situated at the Kuban River (South of Russia) and extending for 235 km, includes eight hydropower plants and one pumped storage power plant, with a total original capacity of over 460 MW. The modernisation could ensure a capacity increase from 10% to 20% (up to 550 MW).