ABB has won two UK contracts for its recently announced power transformer remanufacturing service. The orders for the refurbishment of two separate transformers are worth around £800,000 – slightly over half the cost of buying new ones. The total project time is also around half of that needed for manufacturing new transformers.
The first contract is the remanufacture of a ten-yearold 47MVA transformer, from the Kemsley CHP plant near Sittingbourne, Kent. The CHP (combined heat and power) facility is provided by E-ON to Grovehurst Energy which supplies energy for local paper-making production.
The second contract is for the renewal of a 30/60MVA dual low-voltage transformer for E-ON Central Networks’ Bentley substation. Originally installed in 1989, the transformer experienced a failure on one of its three phases and is undergoing a one limb rewind, which is taking 20 weeks, compared with the supply of a new transformer which would require up to 16 months and cost up to four times more.
Both transformers are currently being refurbished at ABB’s factory in Drammen, Norway. Here, the transformer is stripped down to its component parts and then rebuilt. The remanufacturing service includes collection and return to site, and commissioning.