Hydropower plant Gibárt in northern Hungary had never been renovated in around 50 years. It was time to bring the old, tradition-steeped power plant – the country’s first one to generate alternating current – up to modern technical hydropower standards. First and foremost, the mechanical equipment of the facility on the Hernád river had to be completely revitalised. For this purpose, the engineers of Voith Hydro’s Austrian-based Small Hydro Division replaced the two existing machine units with two modern Kaplan Kaplan bulb turbines. At their inauguration, the success of the project was obvious: the renovation had boosted the generating capacity of the Gibárt power plant by around 70 per cent. As a result, Hungary’s Methuselah among hydropower plants was able to open an all-new chapter of its long-standing history.

photo credits: Voith