ceratec and esk extend business relationship

WORLD PUMPS July 2009Business news4

www.worldpumps.com

Pumped storage power plant

Kopswerk II has been inaugurated

in the Austrian state of Vorarl-

berg. The operator, Vorarlberger

Illwerke AG, has invested a total

of around €400 million in the

project. Construction has taken

four years and the power plant

has been successfully supplying

power to the grid since the end

of 2008. Voith Hydro supplied the

pumped storage technology for

Kopswerk II.

Pumped storage power plants are

increasingly employed in modern

electricity supply. With an

expanding share for renewable

energy technologies, such as

wind or solar, the importance of

pumped storage for grid stability

will grow further, adds

Voith Hydro.

Within seconds, Kopswerk II can

feed up to 525 MW into the grid

to serve peak load demand, or

absorb up to 450 MW of surplus

energy from the grid to store

during low demand phases. Each

of the plant’s units consists of a

Pelton turbine, a motor-generator,

a starting converter, and a

storage pump.

www.more-powerful-solutions.com

Andritz Hydro Brasil has received

an order for the supply, installa-

tion supervision, and commis-

sioning of equipment for the

Jirau hydroelectric power plant,

located on the Madeira River,

northern Brazil, from Energia

Sustentável do Brasil (ENERSUS).

The order value is approximately

€170 million.

Andritz Hydro will deliver eight

bulb-type turbines with an

output of 76.55 MW each – the

most powerful bulb-type

turbines worldwide – generators

and 28 voltage regulators for

the generators. Start-up of the

first unit is scheduled for mid

2012. The company adds that

bulb-type turbines are particu-

larly suited for operation with

low head and large flow, as on

the Madeira River. The units are

claimed to offer high efficiency

and can operate economically

even at large flow rate

variations.

www.andritz.com

KSB has won the Green Excel-

lence Environmental Activism

Award for 2009. This prize is

awarded annually for centrifugal

pumps by the global consultancy

company Frost & Sullivan. With

this environmental prize, Frost &

Sullivan says it recognises

research and development

activities in the field of products

and solutions which are

innovative, reliable and energy-

efficient. Frost & Sullivan says that

KSB has made energy efficiency a

key focus for many years.

Alongside variable speed systems

for pumps, energy-efficient

electric motors and computer-

controlled control valves, these

include environmentally friendly

materials developed in KSB’s own

laboratories.

www.ksb.com

Verderflex is looking for distribu-

tors to promote and sell its range

of peristaltic hose pumps and

tube pumps across the states

of India.

Verderflex, part of the Verder

group, designs and manufactures

peristaltic hose and tube pumps

that are used in a variety of

applications worldwide. Often

found in water and wastewater

applications, the heavy duty hose

pumps are capable of handling

liquids with up to 80% solid

content such as mining slurries.

Using a shoe to compress the

hose completely, liquid is forced

along the hose and upon hose

restitution more liquid is sucked

into the vacuum created. This

gentle pumping action is suitable

for pumping shear sensitive

liquids such as flocculants.

The tube pump range includes

scientific, programmable tube

pumps, suitable for pharmaceu-

tical applications, laboratories and

high accuracy, low flow applica-

tions. This range expands to

include industrial tube pumps for

printing, packaging and chemical

transfer on a larger scale.

Included in the Verderflex

product range are smaller OEM

tube pumps for integration into

equipment such as vending

machines and scientific analysers,

dosing or metering everything

from food substances to

chemically aggressive media.

www.verderflex.com

German company ESK Ceramics

GmbH & Co. KG and Netherlands-

based Ceratec Technical Ceramics

BV have extended their 20 year

business relationship. The

companies have signed a

contract focusing on intensifying

joint development projects and

the small-series production of

metal-ceramic hybrid parts for

the pump industry.

Ceratec is a manufacturer of

prototypes and technical ceramic

products, while ESK produces

ceramic components, powders

and engineered surfaces. The

cooperation covers ESK’s range

of EKasic silicon carbide

products as well as structural

parts from TETRABOR boron

carbide or EKasin silicon nitride.

The companies say that all these

ceramics from ESK are included

in the package of joint activities

and permit a wide range of

developments. The cooperation

has already resulted in the joint

development of cartridge units

in different geometries with

EKasic G material for a wide

range of applications, which

have now been launched as

series products.

www.ceratec.nl

www.ceratec-ceramic-bearings.com

Austrian storage power plant provides grid stability

Indian expansion for Verderflex pumps

Ceratec and ESK extend business relationship

Environmental award for energy efficient products

Further Brazilian order for Andritz Hydro

The Kops reservoir and Rifa, the lower reservoir, in Vorarlberg, Austria.