Partenstein Hydropower Plant

VAG supplies a customised butterfly valve as a turbine inlet valve to the Partenstein hydropower plant and meets all the challenges with excellence – from the customised coating up to special transportation.

The Partenstein hydropower plant was put into service in 1924 as Austria’s first large-scale power plant with an overall capacity of 29.5 MW. Back then, the power plant generated so much electric power that it not only supplied the entire state of Upper Austria but also a part of Austria’s capital of Vienna with electricity. Being a so-called storage power plant, it can store electric energy. Nowadays it mainly serves to meet peak demands in the power grid.

After the inspection of the entire plant, Energie AG Oberösterreich [Upper Austria] decided to replace the installed pipe-burst safety valve – which had been in service for almost 100 years – by a modern, new butterfly valve serving as a shut-off valve.

The order placed with VAG included:

1x VAG EKN® Butterfly Valve DN 2600 PN 6 as a turbine inlet valve with:
    - streamlined valve disk
    - welded body and disk
    - multi-component special epoxy-resin coating 
    - a weight of 17 tons
    - with factory-assembled VAG HYsec PRO Hydraulic Brake-and-Lift Unit for a closing time of 50 sec (variable adjustment)
1x VAG Ranger-Stepped Coupling DN 2400/2600

2x VAG Spring-Loaded Air Valves DN 500
      - With a VAG DUOJET® Automatic Air Valve arranged on the     
         side and an upstream inspection valve (VAG BETA200® Gate
        Valve)
 

1x paddle trip

Computations
    1. Strength calculations
    - load-carrying capacity analysis
    - proof of serviceability
    - proof of endurance strength

    2. Hydraulic computations (CFD) 

Following customer acceptance at VAG’s Mannheim plant in early September 2018, the valves were delivered to the Partenstein hydropower plant by special transport because of their dimensions and weight.

Two special cranes were used to lift and then lower the extremely heavy valves into the valve chamber. VAG’s Service Team, who had already measured the dimensions of the installation site with a 3D laser tracker at the beginning of the project, provided assistance during the installation and commissioning of the complete valve and ensured speedy and workmanlike execution.   

VAG’s meeting all the customer’s requirements successfully rounded off the trustful cooperation between the two companies. 

Finally, all works were completed reliably and to the operator’s absolute satisfaction and the hydropower plant could resume its operation.

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