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    Kaloum 5 - Republic of Guinea

    Power plant overhaul boosts availability and grid stability

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    Wärtsilä have increased the reliability of EDG’s (Electricité de Guinée) Kaloum 5 power plant by performing an extensive overhaul. “Before we contracted Wärtsilä to totally renew the power plant, its capacity had gone down to about only 50% of the fully rated power,” says Mr Nfaly Diaby, Maintenance Manager at EDG.
    The Kaloum 5 power plant is located in the Tombo district of Kaloum commune, the administrative centre of the capital Conakry in the Republic of Guinea. The purpose of the station is to improve the power supply on the interconnected network in Guinea.
    According to Mr Diaby, the power plant was in bad condition and needed a total overhaul. “Before the overhaul, the power plant was in a state of advanced degradation, where cylinder heads, liners, pistons, bearings, turbochargers, and auxiliaries had to be repaired. The three generating sets achieved only 48% - 67% of their rated power of 10.4MW.”

    Trust in Wärtsilä’s competence

    The government-owned EDG had called in a consultant, who subsequently recommended that Wärtsilä be contracted for the overhaul. EDG found that Wärtsilä had the needed competence for this kind of work, in addition to having a good reputation and being the manufacturer of the original engines.

    Mr Diaby says that the project, which took approximately 18 months to complete, went very well and according to schedule. The challenges Wärtsilä faced, which included the engine speed controllers and the alternator rotor on one generator, were handled more than satisfactorily by their skilled engineers. “We found that Wärtsilä’s staff acted very professionally throughout the project.”

    We can now run the power plant at full capacity.

    Significant increase in availability

    Based on several audits, Wärtsilä delivered a comprehensive solution to bring EDG’s power plant up to standard again; including a complete overhaul of engines and alternators. In addition, automation was upgraded and auxiliaries were modified and fine-tuned to suit the plant performance. Finally, the turbochargers were also upgraded with newer versions.

    Thanks to the overhaul, all three engines now produce 10.4MW of electricity, which is a significant boost in EDG’s power requirement and grid stability. Mr Diaby says that EDG also took advantage of Wärtsilä’s service to have advisors on site after the commissioning. “For one year our personnel has gained valuable competence with the help of the two advisors from Wärtsilä. This training will benefit EDG in the future operation and maintenance of the plant.”

    As a continuation to the project, Wärtsilä will also provide EDG with maintenance services and OEM spare parts for regular engine maintenance.

    “The benefits of this project are many, but to mention the most important ones, we can now run the plant at full capacity and enjoy an increased availability rate of between 96% and 98%. With this said, we can recommend other power plant owners with similar needs to contact Wärtsilä. We had total satisfaction with this project,” says Mr Diaby.


      Challenge
      • Restoring a power plant with very little working machinery to its full power capacity.
      Solution
      • Complete overhaul of engines and alternators as well as automation upgrades, including modification and finetuning of auxiliaries to suit the plant performance.
      Benefits
      • Running all engines at the rated power of 10.4MW
      • Increased plant availability to 96% - 98%
      • Increased grid stability
      • Increased reliability
      • Increased staff competence levels

      Challenge

      • Restoring a power plant with very little working machinery to its full power capacity.

      Solution

      • Complete overhaul of engines and alternators as well as automation upgrades, including modification and finetuning of auxiliaries to suit the plant performance.

      Benefits

      • Running all engines at the rated power of 10.4MW
      • Increased plant availability to 96% - 98%
      • Increased grid stability
      • Increased reliability
      • Increased staff competence levels
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