Transmission News

ABB won an order worth over $30 million from Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) to supply gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) for substations to boost the reliability of transmission infrastructure in New Jersey. ABB’s order includes design, supply and commissioning of ABB’s 550 kV GIS type ELK-3, a compact and modular solution. PSE&G is spending $4 billion between 2014 and 2016 to upgrade its electricity infrastructure to meet demand for electricity.

Siemens received an order for the turnkey delivery of the grid connection for the Dudgeon offshore wind farm. The customers are the Norwegian utilities Statoil and Statkraft, which are jointly implementing the wind farm off the coast of the U.K. Siemens will supply the entire power transmission system, including the two transformer substations - one onshore and one offshore - for the 402-MW project. Siemens had previously received an order in August to deliver 67 wind turbines in the new 6-MW class as well as to maintain the wind farm.

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 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.

ABB won an order worth $78 million from Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Saudi Arabia's national power transmission and distribution operator. ABB will supply transformers for two new combined-cycle power plants that will boost transmission capacity around the capital, Riyadh, and surrounding areas of the central region. ABB will deliver generator step-up (GSU) transformers, power transformers and station service transformers for SEC's combined-cycle power plants. The order was booked in the second quarter of this year.

As part of a regional upgrade to the transmission grid in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia, AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power, and the AEP Ohio Transmission Company plan to replace the existing wire on a 345-kV transmission line that runs from Waterford, Ohio, to New Haven, West Virginia. All of the work will take place within existing transmission line right of way, and more than 90 percent of it will be done on existing towers.

ABB won an order worth around $40 million from Energinet.dk, the Danish transmission system operator, to build an AC power cable system that will help integrate and transmit power from the 400 MW Horns Rev 3 offshore wind farm. ABB´s project scope includes the technical design, engineering and production of the high-voltage cable system including accessories and installation. Energinet.dk is an independent public enterprise owned by the Danish state as represented by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building.

Mon Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, installed new conductors near Morgantown on a 138,000-volt transmission line to handle future load growth in the Monongalia County area. The $5 million project includes three phases, with all the work occurring on existing right-of-way. The transmission line upgrade is expected to be completed before year's end.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) broke ground on a regional operations center in Little Rock, Ark. This action marks the next phase of the integration of the four-state electric grid spanning the southern region into MISO. Similar to the company's North Region Operations Center, the facility in Little Rock will serve as the command center for MISO's newly established South Region. MISO expects to spend $22 million on its new facility in West Little Rock. The building is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

ABB won orders worth around $56 million from Power Grid Corporation of India (POWERGRID), to supply power transformers and shunt reactors for substations being built to support the country's ultrahigh voltage transmission grid development. Fourteen 500 megavolt ampere (MVA), 765 kV ultrahigh voltage single-phase auto-transformers based on ABB's technology will be installed at greenfield substations being constructed in Kanpur and Varanasi.