Bell Bay Aluminium begins installation of 300-tonne transformer
Bell Bay Aluminium has begun the installations of a new 300-tonne transformer at their site in Tasmania.
The 168MVA 220/40/11kV power transformer will convert 220,000 volts received by Bell Bay Aluminium from the Tasmanian transmission system to 33,000 volts as an input to the smelter’s rectifiers which, in turn, provide direct current power to the potlines.
Bell Bay Aluminium awarded Victorian-based Wilson Transformer Company the contract to manufacture and deliver the giant transformer it needed for its smelter power project back in December 2017.
Once completed by Wilson Transformer Company, the transformer left the Port of Hastings, in Victoria, on March 22 and arrived at Bell Bay on the 31st, general manager Kevin Taylor said.
“This power transformer will replace a 52-year-old asset. It is a complex project due to the size of the transformer and the logistics of installation in our switchyard,” Mr Taylor said.
The smelter power project is valued at about $6.5 million, with about $1.5 million of that figure to be spent with Tasmanian contractors and suppliers on installation.
Bell Bay Aluminium’s operation to install and prepare the transformer for use in the smelter switchyard will take almost eight weeks.
Source: Examiner
Photo (for illustrative purposes): Bratsk Aluminium Smelter / UC Rusal Photo Gallery / Wikimedia / CC BY 2.0
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