Alstom to modernise the generator of El Sauz power plant in Mexico

Alstom Thermal Services in Mexico has been awarded a contract worth close to 7 million ($8.6 million) for the rehabilitation and upgrade of the main electrical equipment of unit 4 at Comisión Federal de Electricidads (CFE) combined cycle power plant El Sauz in the Mexican state of Queretaro. The modernisation includes among others a refurbishment of the steam turbine generator rotor and the modernisation of the generator circuit breaker.

The project of upgrading the electrical generator is the first of its kind in North America using the pre-manufactured, winded Stator Insert Technology. The use of this technology reduces servicing time on the equipment by approximately 50 %. Once upgraded, the generator will optimise start-up times and further increase the reliability of the plant.

Alstom is also retrofitting the steam turbine and replacing three older gas-turbines with a single GT24 gas turbine at the El Sauz power plant. All of these works will add at least 25 years to the plant's lifetime and increase its efficiency by 20 %. The mentioned upgrades contribute to the modernisation of the state owned El Sauz unit as well as to the CFE fleet.