plant visit and manufacturing inspection alstom grid

i January 1, 2016

25501457 November 2015 Visit to Alstom Grid Plant in France – LCP

PLANT VISIT AND MANUFACTURING INSPECTION

ALSTOM GRID FABRICATION FACILITY IN

AIX-LES-BAINS, FRANCE

NOVEMBER 10, 2015 Prepared for: Natural Resources Canada and Nalcor

Project Lead: Nik Argirov

Date: January 1, 2016

Quality Assurance Statement

Office Address 740-1185 W Georgia Street, Vancouver BC, V6E 4E6

Prepared by Nik Argirov

Reviewed by Howard Lee

Approved for Issue by Howard Lee

This document contains information

from MWH which may be confiden-

tial or proprietary. Any unauthor-

ized use of the information

contained herein is strictly prohibit-

ed and MWH shall not be liable for

any use outside the intended and

approved purpose.

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iii January 1, 2016


TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. General ........................................................................................... 1

2. Orientation meeting .......................................................................... 1

3. Factory tour...................................................................................... 2

4. Comments and Conclusions .............................................................. 2

Appendix 1: Photographs

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January 1, 2016

25501457 1 November 2015 Visit to Alstom Grid Plant in France – LCP

1. General

On November 10, 2015, the Independent Engineer (IE) MWH, represented by Nik Argirov, together with two sen-

ior management representatives from Nalcor met with the Alstom Grid plant management and conducted tours of

production facilities in Aix-les-Bains, France.

Alstom Grid has been contracted as part of the overall Lower Churchill Project (LCP) AC Substations (CD0502)

contract to supply, install and commission the 315kV Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) equipment at the Churchill

Falls and Muskrat Falls substations.

The purpose of the plant visit / inspection was to verify the status of Alstom’s work and to review their QA/QC pro-

cess relative to the manufacturing of the equipment supplied under this Contract.

2. Orientation Meeting

Meeting started with a thorough safety briefing followed by a presentation, which overviewed Alstom Grid organi-

zation and its latest integration within GE, GIS experience and products overview, quality management, technical

aspects of the equipment produced for Lower Churchill Project and details on the project progress.

Notes taken by the IE at the presentation include the following;

Emphasis on the safety procedures indicates sound management of the facility and care for its staff. The opera-

tion is certified and adheres to OHSAS 18001 and has a fully integrated management system including quality

and environmental protection subsystems.

The scope of the offered services includes design, manufacturing, erection and commissioning, maintenance,

retrofit, after-sale services and training. Alstom and GE together boast over 200 years of combined experience in

providing advanced energy solutions. Alstom Grid supplies equipment to 90% of the power utilities worldwide. To

date, Alstom has completed over 22,000 circuit breakers (CB) bays and over 2500 substation installations in more

than 100 countries in the world. Alstom Grid has a comprehensive GIS range up from 72 to 800 kV with the facility

in Aix-les-Bains covering the production of the 245 to 800kV range with its 850 employees and 44,000 m2 work-

shop area.

In addition, the presentation covered:

a) Alstom’s Quality Management Program - the operation is certified under ISO9001, ISO14001 and

OHSAS18001 within a fully integrated management system. The testing laboratory is accredited according

to ISO 17025 for voltage and transformer testing. The ISO certificates are renewed every 3 years however

an independent external auditor (company) is performing annual quality audits. The same company is cer-

tifying the operation on 3-year basis. Currently the operation is at the end of the 2nd year and in March

2016 will be certified to the latest, 2015 edition of ISO 9001.

b) Alstom’s Standard GIS process model. The model aligns GIS Design Standardization with GIS Industrial

Standardization

c) Project Progress

The GIS bays are in advanced stage of production.

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In compliance with the baseline schedule, the 22 GIS bays will be shipped to Montreal in January

2016. Final tests are scheduled for July’16 at Churchill Falls and September’16 at Muskrat Falls

substations.

The bays are shipped filled with nitrogen at 0.3 bar internal pressure with the exception of the cir-

cuit breaker (CB) and voltage transformer (PT) which are filled with SF6 at the same, 0.3 bars in-

ternal pressure.

d) Lower Churchill Project (LCP) Control, Monitoring and Protection systems

GIS controls will consist of proprietary digital control system - RPH3.

The monitoring system – BWatch3 will utilize digital sensors. The BWatch3 monitors the pressure

of SF6 but also many other controlled parameters and it is able to indicate tendencies, particularly

over longer periods, thus provides a more complete picture to the operator. (Long-term internal

moisture control is ensured by static filters of a capacity to absorb water vapor penetrating into the

switchgear. Each gas-filled compartment is equipped with such filters.)

There will be a separate protection system – a separate coil on the breakers that is not connected

to the RPH3 control will ensure 0.5 to 1.0 millisec closing time of a breaker. System design is be-

ing carried out to ensure correct integration and coordination of all controls and protections.

3. Factory Tour

The fabrication process follows a well-organized sequence of activities and moves through different shops and

working stations. The supplied materials and parts first go through a cleaning workstation before entering the

Cleanworkshop. The Cleanworkshop is a closed / isolated and dust free space kept under constant (controlled)

temperature and humidity. Inside the shop, the process moves first through the Assembly bay and then enters in

the Routine Test bay. The Assembly bay consists of primary/component and bay assembly workstations. The test

bay has a Machine test, Dielectric test and Leak Test workstations. After the Cleanworkshop the process goes

through low voltage control cabinets assembly and test workstations and then moves into the bay completion sta-

tion. The final workshop accommodates the packing operations and ready for shipment storage area.

Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is available and is worn by the employees.

Housekeeping is very good; we observed clean floors, no loose material or tools, equipment in

apparently good order.

We observed circuit breaker and disconnect switch assemblies in the primary assembly area as

well as full bay assembly (Photo 1 & 2) and dielectric testing station (Photos 4 & 5), control cabi-

nets assembly as well as packing operations. The LCP equipment is dielectrically tested to 650kV

with the design voltage being 450kV.

QC starts at each workstation by working to detailed design instructions. The continuity for multi-

ple shift workers at each work station is provided by keeping detailed logs of the completed steps

(Photo 3).

4. Comments and Conclusions

The orientation meeting and the following tour/visit to the manufacturing and test facilities indicated that Al-

stom’s staff key competencies, organization and processes are appropriate for carrying out the manufacturing

and testing portion of the Lower Churchill Project contracts. The test stations appeared properly equipped to

perform the pre-delivery testing.

January 1, 2016


APPENDIX NO. 1

Photographs

(Note: All photos are of LCP equipment)

Photo 1 Fully assembled GIS bay (one of the LCP bays)

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Photo 2 Circuit Breaker enclosure ready to be assembled in a bay

Photo 3 QC process is enhanced by keeping detailed logs of the completed steps

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Photo 4 Testing station/tool for dielectric capacity test (tool generator to the left - see Photo 5)

Photo 5 Dielectric testing tool generator with a generation capacity of up to 730kV

plant visit and manufacturing inspection alstom grid

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