Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) has completed the 100 MW upgrade of its Đerdap (Djerdap) 1 hydropower plant on the Danube River in Serbia.
The powerhouse contains six turbine-generator units, and each was upgraded to 190 MW from 171 MW, for a total new capacity of 1,140 MW.
Đerdap 1 is the largest hydropower plant of the EPS system and produces about half of the total electricity from the company’s hydropower plant sector. Extensive refurbishment of Đerdap 1 was carried out by technical teams of EPS, experts from local scientific institutions and the Russian company Silovije mašini.
Unit A3 was stopped on 1 September 2022, after more than 51 years of operation. The largest part installed in one piece on Unit A3 is the rotor of the main generator, weighing 610 tons and 14.15 m in diameter.
Acceptance tests are under way, and power system synchronization and connection are expected by mid-November at the latest.
The main equipment supplier is the Russian company Silovije mašini from Saint Petersburg, while part of the equipment was refurbished by local factories. The magnitude of this project is illustrated by the fact that 1,300 tons of rotating and 950 tons of static equipment were dismantled. The contractors were the workers of Đerdap 1 HPP, Goša montaža, Đerdap usluge, ATB Sever from Subotica, Jadran, Kolubara Metal as well as experts from the Nikola Tesla and Mihajlo Pupin institutes, while metal components were inspected by the Materials Testing Institute from Belgrade.
“Đerdap 1 has been the pride of our hydropower industry for more than five decades, and after successful refurbishment, it will certainly be so for the coming 30 to 40 years,” said Dušan Živković, acting general manager of EPS. “We got increased capacity, less scope of maintenance and decades of reliability.”
Živković said the company will continue hydropower plant refurbishments, with the most significant projects being the modernization of the Vlasina, Bistrica, Potpeć and Đerdap 2 hydropower plants. The European Union has also recognized the importance of EPS hydropower plant refurbishments, he said. To this end, EPS was awarded a €49 million (US$51.8 million) grant through the Western Balkan Investments Framework (WBIF) to finance four projects. Of that, €16.1 million ($17 million) are intended to refurbish the Vlasina hydropower plants.
