Pelfa Group established as a reliable manufacturer of large hydropower components

The Pelfa Group is a long-established ­business with headquarters near the northern Italian city of Udine. In more recent years it has enjoyed great success specialising in the production of high-quality hydropower components. Offering expertise in all areas of steel processing, its customers include companies in the steel sector, oil and gas, offshore and construction. The Italians are held in high regard by numerous international turbine manufacturers. PELFA has earned its excellent reputation by providing outstanding quality, high material reliability, efficient order processing and customer-orientated service. Over the past decade machinery investment programmes, continuous training and ongoing education for employees have equipped PELFA to manufacture components for the large hydropower sector – producing items with diameters of up to 8 m and weights of up to 100 metric tons.

The Pelfa Group was founded by Redento Fabro in 1979. Over the course of its over 40-year history it has established itself as a reliable manufacturer in various ­industrial sectors. The steel construction experts offer a portfolio that covers the entire production process and a whole range of components; from order confirmation to the turn-key end products. The Italians’ sustained success is explained by their comprehensive capabilities in the field of industrial steel ­processing. All work steps are carried out at a single location – from plasma cutting, ­welding, bending, CNC milling and painting to final assembly. In terms of staff, PELFA ­relies on qualified skilled workers, of whom some actually completed their apprentice­ships at the company. Management considers skilled employees its most valuable asset.

A reliable Partner
In the more recent past, this long-established company has increasingly specialised in the production of superior-quality components for the hydropower sector. Significant investment in production capacities and employee training have ensured PELFA is also able to manufacture components at diameters of up to 8 metres, and weights of up to 100 metric tons – parts in demand across the entire large hydropower sector. In order to manufacture these large-format components the company optimised numerous procedures – in material procurement, cutting and welding technology, thermal treatment, mechanical processing, painting and the factory assembly departments. An experienced technical order and inspection processing team is also responsible for the preparation of relevant documenta­tion, and undergoes continuous ongoing ­training in numerous training courses.

Specialised in martensitic turbine steel
Martensitic turbine steel 1.4313 (X3CrNiMo13-4) is a rust- and acid-resistant chromium-nickel steel alloy with added molyb­­de­num and medium-level corrosion resistance. Its toughness ensures 1.4313 can serve a wide range of applications and the ever-increasing demand for highly-­stressed components in turbine construction – such as runners, housing and components exposed to abrasive water. PELFA takes these needs into account and has become a specialist in material properties and requirements for procurement, testing and steel structure manufacturing. Steel thicknesses of up to 100 mm are required for certain applications, such as heavy runner rings, and are only available via specialised rolling procedures in selected steel and rolling mills. Ongoing staff training and internal quality assurance optimisation now enable PELFA to meet the special manufacturing requirements of large hydropower plant ­operators and to deliver workpieces of the highest quality.

Complete assembly and individual components for a wide range of applications
In practice, PELFA’s high-quality assembly groups and components ­reveal their quality merits in various upper performance class systems. Runner rings between 6 m and 8 m in diameter are now in use after the revitalisation of run-of-river power plants on the Inn and Danube ­rivers. Two spiral casings, weighing 45 metric tons each, were manufactured for the pump turbines at the Kühtai power plant in Tyrol. The large distributer mechanisms for the Kaplan turbines generate a ­bottleneck capacity of 8.5 MW at the Vallabregues power plant on the French River Rhone and were also provided by PELFA. The Italian company‘s order books are full in the throttle valve sector. PELFA is currently working through an order backlog of twelve butterfly valves, with diameters of up to 4.2 metres, to be delivered by the end of the year. The orders involve component production, coating, factory ­assembly and pressure testing. In total the pre-assembled butterfly ­valves weigh up to 80 metric tons.