Underground powerhouse

The company secured a contract to supply two units of 150t/25t/5t x 18.7m double girder powerhouse cranes and one unit of 25t x 5m double girder semi portal crane to lift the main turbine for maintenance and repair works in the new Hulu Terengganu Hydroelectric Project in Malaysia.

The project involves a 250MW hydropower development project located upstream of the existing Kenyir hydroelectric power plant in the Terengganu River. Upon completion, the Hulu Terengganu plant is expected to add an annual energy output of 405GW to the national power grid.

The project was undertaken by Alstom Group together with SMEC, a consulting engineering firm based in Australia.

The overall engineering design of the Hulu Terengganu Hydroelectric project included a 78m high earth fill main dam, diversion tunnels, power tunnels, gated spillway, main intake structure, and an underground powerhouse cavern. One of the key designs of this project is the 300m underground water transfer tunnel linking the main water catchment area in the north known as Puah Dam.

MHE-Demag Malaysia project engineers visited the site and carefully planned the delivery of the cranes. The girders and other components were transported to site via trailer, but to enter the site, the trailer had to move in reverse for approximately 300m due to severe limitations in terms of manoeuvrability.

A heavy duty mobile crane was used to lift the crane girders, main hoists and auxiliary hoists. The installation took a few days and despite all challenges both cranes were successfully installed and load tested without any complications.