Siemens Energy has been awarded a major contract to supply key equipment for the longest and highest capacity DC power transmission line in the world. The 6400 MW, 800 kV line, which is to deliver electricity from the Xiangjiaba hydropower plant in southern-central China to Shanghai, a 2000 km route, will be built by ABB who won a $440 million order for the project in December last year
Siemens and its local partners will deliver ten extra-high voltage converter transformers, five of them rated at 800 kV, as well as 6-inch thyristor valve technology for a converter station.
Under its EUR160 million contract, Siemens will deliver the ten HVDC transformers for the Fulong converter station at the Xiangjiaba hydropower plant. It will equip the converter station’s valve towers with the latest generation of 6-inch high-performance thyristors.
The 800 kV rating of the link will minimise transmission losses. “With the further development of our HVDC transmission technology, especially with respect to the 800 kV voltage level and converter technology based on the new 6-inch thyristors, we will enable our customer to transport large amounts of energy in an environmentally friendly manner with low loss,” said Dr. Udo Niehage, CEO of Siemens’ Power Transmission division.
The link is due to be commissioned in 2011.
