Hafslund Produksjon awards Vamma hydropower plant expansion contract to Voith

Norwegian energy company Hafslund Produksjon has awarded an order to expand its Vamma hydropower plant situated on the river Glommas to German company Voith.

Under the contract, Voith will supply and install a vertical Kaplan turbine, a generator and other associated control system and switch gear at Vamma, which is said to be the biggest run-of-river power plant in Norway.

The capacity of the turbine is 129MW and the output of the generator is 150 MVA. The unit is scheduled to be commissioned in 2019.

Voith Hydro Norway CEO Frode Moen said: "The planned machine is quite unique as it belongs to the largest Kaplan machines in Northern Europe.

"It will produce around 1,000 GWh per year and replace some of the 100 year old machines with a total capacity of 800 GWh in the power plant."

After the expansion, the hydropower plant Vamma expects to produce 220 GWh more electricity.

So far, Norway developed 60% of power from the country’s hydropower resources and produces 95% of its electricity through hydropower.

The country has an installed capacity of almost 31,000MW and the country’s hydropower plants produce altogether produce 129 TWh power.

Norway has a technically and economically feasible hydropower potential of 213.8 TWh per year.

Last September, Voith in cooperation with Swedish utility Skellefteå Kraft has inaugurated Bruksfors hydropower plant near the city of Robertsfors, located Northeast of Sweden.

Last year, Skellefteå awarded a contract to supply a 250 kw-StreamDiver unit to Voith’s small hydro competence center Kössler. It was commissioned by this year itself.