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Stories and perspectives
Retrofit delivers power-uplift
After three decades of safe operations, the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in China was seeking to boost the electricity output and extend the operational lifespan of their steam turbines. When it was commissioned in 1994, Daya Bay was the first nuclear power plant using Alstom technology to operate commercially in China.
As a long-term partner the Arabelle Solutions team was tasked with this important modernization project and in 2018 started designing the improved LP module path flow. Manufacturing of the required equipment, including six sets of rotors, inner casings, blade holders and complete bearings, started in July 2020. Despite challenges, including the COVID pandemic and supply chain constraints, the equipment was delivered to the site on time.
The extensive work to retrofit Unit 2 was completed in only three months towards the end of 2023, with successful grid synchronization and testing concluded in early 2024. This was followed by Unit 1, which was retrofitted and passed its stringent tests by the summer of 2024.
Following the retrofit, the modernized plant’s improved effectiveness is expected to save hundreds of thousand tons of CO2 emissions a year, compared to a standard coal powered plant.
Manufacturing our Arabelle turbine
Watch our flagship Arabelle turbine being assembled in our Belfort factory.
Watch our flagship Arabelle turbine being assembled in our Belfort factory.
We designed and built two Arabelle turbines - equipped with the largest last-stage blade ever made - for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in the United Kingdom.
Once in operation the turbines will produce 3.2GW of low-carbon electricity, enough to power around six million homes.
Boosting power in China and France
In 2019, China’s largest nuclear power generator in service installed one of our GIGATOP 4-pole generators for their nuclear power plant—which boasts a rating of 1,660 MW and a load factor of 82.2%, helping supply 12 TWh of electricity to the Chinese grid.
That same year, another Gigatop 4-pole generator rated 1,495 MW produced 11.6 TWh of low-carbon electricity for the French grid, representing an 88.6% load factor. This equals the average yearly consumption of 2,500,000 households.