Company Announcement - Over the past 18 months Marthinusen & Coutts and ACTOM Turbo Machines have performed a comprehensive range of repairs and refurbishments for Kelvin Power Station in Kempton Park. Marthinusen &Coutts recently completed a complex repair of one of the station’s 60 MW synchronous alternators, while ACTOM Turbo Machines performed general overhauls (GO’s) on five 60 MW turbine generator sets. This work by the two business units – ACTOM Turbo Machines (formerly Cetus Turbo Machinery which was acquired by ACTOM recently to become part of the Marthinusen &Coutts division – has contributed towards boosting the aging station’s generating capacity from 120 MW to 300 MW.
The stator of the 60 MW synchronous alternator was damaged when the unit suffered a breakdown in March last year. Tests conducted on site by Marthinusen & Coutts established that three stator bars had been damaged, whereupon it was decided to replace a total of six stator bars. “Due to the fact that the winding is of a special single-layer type in which the strands in each stator bar are individually brazed onto the associated strands of the bar next to it, the replacement of the stator bars was a prolonged process lasting several months,” said Rob Melaia, Marthinusen & Coutts’ engineering & technical executive.
In December last year Kelvin Power awarded a 30-month contract to ACTOM Turbo Machines to provide an ongoing maintenance service for the station’s turbine generator sets.
Kelvin Power is a privately-owned coal fired power station that supplies power to Johannesburg’s City Power. The refurbishment of Kelvin’s generators and turbines illustrates Marthinusen & Coutts offering on an integrated electrical and mechanical services basis, giving customers the peace of mind that it can provide the entire solution.