GE has received a $78 million contract to provide four 250-megawatt pump/turbine and motor/generator sets, auxiliary equipment and services for a new, 1,000-megawatt pumped-storage hydropower station in the mountainous area in the southwest suburb of Yixing City, China.

The Jiangsu Pumped Storage Power Co. Ltd awarded the contract for the equipment to GE as the prime contractor for the project. ABB is a subcontractor on the project, providing a CSCS (computer supervisory control system) and auxiliary electrical systems. The contract was signed in Nanjing by three parties: the Jiangsu Pumped Storage Power Co. Ltd, the CETIC International Tendering Co., Ltd, as its agent, and GE.

The pump turbines are vertical shaft, single-stage, reversible Francis machines. Rated output in turbine mode will not be less than 255 megawatts, while the maximum pump input power in pump mode will not exceed 275 megawatts. The 50-hertz motor/generators are three-phase, air-cooled, vertical shaft, suspension type, reversible synchronous units. The generator mode has a rating of 278 MVA while the motor mode is rated at 275 megawatts. The GE equipment will be built in Norway, Finland and Canada. The site installation will begin in the second half of 2005 with the first unit scheduled to enter commercial operation on Aug. 31, 2007. The other units are set to begin operation in subsequent intervals of five, four and three months, respectively.