Iberdrola completes Mexican nuclear power plant upgrades

Iberdrola Ingeniería has completed all upgrades at Mexico’s Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Station under a $605m project awarded in 2007.

With the latest upgrades, the generation capacity of the Laguna Verde nuclear power station on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico has increased to 1,640MW.

The company has replaced all equipment of units 1 and 2 with the latest generation of machines, thus enabling the nuclear power plant to operate at 120% efficiency.

Iberdrola also modified several components including main capacitor, steam separators, heating and air-conditioning, ventilation systems, auxiliary systems, and electrical systems at the plant.

The upgrade will extend the design lifetime of the Laguna Verde station, which is operated by the Mexican state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). The plant is located in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

In 2007, the project was awarded to a consortium led by the Iberdrola subsidiary. Alstom Mexicana also participated in the project with 3% share.

Iberdrola supervised the design, engineering, equipment and material supply, installation, assembly, training, and testing for the project. The firm carried out the entire project during the scheduled refuelling stoppages.