HVDC

ABB Wins $450 Million Order for Norway-UK HVDC Interconnection

ABB won an order worth $450 million to link the power grids of the United Kingdom and Norway. The order was placed by Statnett, the state-owned network operator in Norway, and National Grid, an international electricity and gas utility from the UK. ABB will supply HVDC converter stations at both ends of the North Sea Network (NSN) Link between Norway and the UK. The NSN link will have the capacity to transmit 1,400 MW of power.

AEP Taps Siemens to Modernize HVDC System Welsh in Texas

American Electric Power (AEP) chose Siemens to modernize its HVDC back-to-back link at its 600-MW Welsh HVDC station in Titus County, Texas. Siemens will upgrade its 20-year-old system by installing new control and protection technologies, replacing the cooling, heating and ventilation, and incorporating new harmonic filters and shunt reactors. This will be the first Siemens mid-life control and protection HVDC modernization in the United States.

ITC Files Permit Application with Canada's National Energy Board for the Lake Erie Connector Project

ITC Lake Erie Connector, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp., filed a major permit application with Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) for the ITC Lake Erie Connector transmission line. The ITC Lake Erie Connector is a proposed 1000 MW, bi-directional, HVDC merchant transmission line that will provide the first direct link between the markets of the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and PJM Interconnection (PJM).

ABB Commissions World's Longest Power Transmission Link in Brazil

ABB successfully commissioned the HVDC converter stations to the Rio Madeira HVDC link in Brazil and delivered the project to Abengoa. The approximately 2,400 km, 3,150-MW power connection is the longest transmission link in the world, and will bring electricity from two hydropower plants in the northwest of the country to São Paulo, Brazil's main economic center. Apart from the two 3,150-MW HVDC converter stations, ABB has also delivered an 800-MW HVDC back-to-back station that transmits power to the surrounding AC network in the northwest of Brazil.

ABB Awarded $400 Million Order for Maritime Link Power Project in Canada

ABB won an order worth approximately $400 million from NSP Maritime Link, a subsidiary of Emera, to supply a HVDC power transmission solution creating the first electricity link between the island of Newfoundland and the North American power grid. The order was booked in the second quarter of 2014. The Maritime Link Project is a 500-MW HVDC connection that will deploy ABB's HVDC Light Voltage Source Conversion (VSC) technology incorporating a full VSC bipolar configuration to further enhance system availability.

Siemens Completes Estlink 2 Transmission Project

Siemens Energy completed the EstLink 2 project, a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link consisting of converter stations in Anttila, Finland, and Püssi, Estonia. Power is now being transmitted by Fingrid, the transmission system operator in Finland and the Estonian transmission system operator Elering. The new joint transmission capacity between the two countries is now increased from 350 MW to 1000 MW. Siemens was responsible for designing the HVDC system as a monopolar connection with metallic return conductor.

Category Error

The trouble with treating grid projects as market players in New York’s capacity auction.

Transmission is not generation. Yet New York ISO makes grid projects qualify as competitive, like gen plants, to get to play in its capacity market.

ABB to Upgrade HVDC Converter Station

NB Power awarded a contract to ABB to upgrade to the Eel River high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station, located near Dalhousie, New Brunswick. The bidirectional station transfers up to 350 MW and is one of two facilities allowing power exchange between New Brunswick and Quebec, providing access to Maritime and New England markets. 

ABB wins $260 million order to upgrade BPA power station

ABB won an order worth around $260 million from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to upgrade the existing Celilo HVDC (high-voltage direct current) converter station in Oregon. This station is part of the electricity link between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California commissioned in 1970. The Celilo converter station is located at the north end of the Pacific DC Intertie, also known as Path 65, which has a capacity of 3,100 MW, and originates near the Columbia River. The order was booked in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Preventing Tomorrow's Blackout

Recent outages show the importance of proper transmission system design. As the grid becomes more complex, meeting NERC reliability standards and proper assessment of power grid reliability will require closer coordination between system planners and protection engineers.
Recent outages show the importance of proper transmission system design. As the grid becomes more complex, meeting NERC reliability standards and proper assessment of power grid reliability will require closer coordination between system planners and protection engineers.