Alstom has commenced production of the hydrogen and water-cooled Gigatop 2-pole turbogenerator at its Polish site in Wroclaw. It forms part of the units 5 and 6 for the new ultra-supercritical (USC) coal-fired power plant in Opole, south-western Poland, which will be the country’s largest coal-fueled facility. Commissioning of unit No 5 is scheduled for 2018 and Unit No 6 for 2019.
The generators will be used in the two new units of the Opole power plant currently built by Alstom with its Ultra-supercritical technology, where steam is produced and used at very high temperatures and pressure, resulting in much higher efficiency than conventional subcritical coal-fired plants, allowing the plant to burn much less coal, generating less emissions per megawatt of power output.
Manufactured in Wroclaw, Alstom's European excellence center for turbogenerators, the Gigatop 2-pole is cooled with pressurized hydrogen gas in a closed circuit to remove heat from the rotor and stator. The heat is removed via hydrogen/water heat exchangers located within the casing. The stator casing is fully sealed to minimize hydrogen consumption.
“Alstom is proud to bring its state-of-the-art technology, as well as its project team experienced in execution of very similar units in Poland (Belchatow 858 MW) in order to make PGE’s major project a success. Moreover, a significant part of production is located in Poland, including local Alstom’s factories in Elblag and Wroclaw,” said Leslaw Kuzaj, Alstom Country President Poland.
