HPC WORLD’S LARGEST STEAM TURBINE

EARLY PLANNING INCREASES EFFICIENCY WHILE DELIVERING COMPONENTS FOR WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL STEAM TURBINE

With the focus on our transition to a low-carbon economy, the supply chain needs partners who deliver trusted efficiency at every stage of a project’s lifecycle. You can see this in our approach to transporting a new low-pressure rotor, weighing 257-tonnes, for the world’s most powerful steam turbine at Hinkley Point C (HPC), in Somerset.

HPC is the first new nuclear power station in the UK for over 20 years. The project is a milestone for the British nuclear power industry. We were appointed by EDF as Tier 1 contractors, to handle and transport all out-of-gauge critical items for the site. Osprey’s nuclear team uses the widest variety of transport at the HPC Terminal –providing a ship-to-shore interface for vessel agency, cargo handling and coordination of onward movement to on-site managed facilities.

PLANNING TO MOVE WORLD’S LARGEST STEAM TURBINE

Working closely with the key project teams at EDF(UK) and GE Power, we built efficiencies into the journey from the outset. The new low-pressure rotor is a critical part of the electrical power production equipment in the turbine hall. It measures 20 meters long, weighs 257 tonnes and houses the largest ‘last stage’ blades ever made at 1.9 metres.

These are one-of-a-kind, multi-million-pound components, and project planning for their transport starts as early as possible. The final set of bladed rotors has 1,216 blades, and the turbine’s rotors will spin at 1,500RPM. This combination will help HPC to generate 3.2GW of CO2-free power for around 6 million homes – a vital part of the UK’s drive towards a zero-carbon future.

• The rotor’s journey start in Belfort, France, where it had been manufactured and tested by the GE team. From there, it was moved by our partners heavy-lift truck to Neuf-Brisach in the Alsace region of France. We loaded it onto a barge and transported down the Rhine to Rotterdam where it was stored at GE’s consolidation warehouse.
• We chose a familiar coaster vessel (MV Aasfjord) to transport the LP Rotor from Rotterdam to the UK. This was the first use of innovative Dyneema lashing chains on a major AIL for HPC, which are 85% lighter than the steel alternative.
• To maximise efficiency again, and use all available under hold deck space, we also brought in three condenser units at the same time.
• After a two-day journey to Avonmouth, we configured our LG1550 SLDB crane with a 35m boom to give it an overall lifting capacity of 323.4Te, and lifted everything from the vessel onto a 4 file 14 Self Propelled Modular Transporter (SPMT).
• Once offloaded, all the components were then delivered safely into the bespoke storage facility at HPC. That operation took just under 10 hours, keeping us on schedule as specified in our plans from the outset.

TRUSTED TO DELIVER CRITICAL ASSETS

This inbound journey to Avonmouth is a tried and tested route for Osprey’s HPC team now, but the rotor was a first, and we gained many valuable insights. In short, our early contractor engagement and repeatable Shared Services model reduce risks and costs for everyone delivering critical equipment onto a site.

“It was uneventful, which is just how we like it,” said Daniel Massey, Osprey’s Senior Project Manager. “Critical assets like this need high levels of precision at every stage of the planning process. By working so closely with the core project teams, we could consolidate all the equipment coming into Avonmouth at this point in the project. It’s just one of the ways we deliver value for our clients: we have the cross-sector experience to scrutinise those mammoth project plans and identify opportunities to add value. In this case, it’s good to know we’re not only delivering the components as needed, but as a company, we’re contributing to the low carbon transition in the most hands-on way – this consolidation reduced both the amount of carbon emissions connected to the supply chain and the number of actual journeys involved.”