| The Gitaru power station is located on the Tana River, about 160 km north east of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The machines at the Gitaru plant rank among the largest generating units in the Kenyan system. Commercial operation with two 72.5 MW vertical Francis units began in 1978. Already then, the civil design and construction had made provisions for a third unit.
In 1997 Voith Siemens Hydro was selected to supply the additional third unit and promised an even faster project implementation than outlined: instead of 25 months just
22 months.
Since typical erection programs for machines of this size can easily take 30 months and more, Voith Siemens Hydro, as turnkey contractor, reconsidered the traditional erection sequences. To guarantee minimum duration, simultaneous turbine und generator erection activities were maximized and the impact of the civil works on them minimized.
Dry commissioning of turbine-generator auxiliary equipment began in early October 1999. At the beginning of November the unit was watered-up and synchronized with the Kenyan grid. Commercial trials began less than two years from the initial contract award. |
