Leroy-Somer helps get the plant up and running  again after catastrophic floods in 2016

The French company, Orvade (a subsidiary of Veolia) operates the main municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plant for the Orléans metropolitan area at its site in Saran, north of the city. In addition to a waste incineration plant, the site also houses a recoverable waste sorting facility.

At the end of May 2016, torrential storms swept through Europe causing extensive flooding in many areas. The worst hit regions in France were in the center of the country. In Orléans, 2 months’ worth of rain - over 126 mm - fell in just 4 days. 63.4 mm of rainfall was recorded for 30 May 2016 alone.

To recondition the alternator and the electrical protection, connection and control cabinets, Orvade turned to Leroy-Somer, which also has a facility in Orléans, just a few miles from Saran. Since installing the equipment in 1995, Leroy-Somer has performed regular maintenance operations on the alternator, including a full rewinding of the rotor in 2007, and was therefore fully conversant with the machine and its history.

To carry out the work required, Leroy-Somer offered a turnkey service. This involved on-site unwiring, removal of the alternator, a complete overhaul at Leroy-Somer’s facility, and full re-installation back at the MSW plant. The need to replace the control cabinets presented an ideal opportunity to upgrade the control system with the installation of a D700 digital automatic voltage regulator, also manufactured by Leroy-Somer. This device features extremely useful mains paralleling and operating data tracking functions.

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 The handling operations were carried out using heavy lifting gear with four hydraulic jacks to maneuver the 29-tonne alternator.