Blog Post

China building super highway for clean power


This isn’t the first project to use ultra high voltage direct current lines at 800 kV, which are state of the art. Both Siemens (s SI) and ABB (s ABB), two powerline equipment makers, previously announced projects selling their 800 kV equipment to China Southern Power Grid and State Grid Corporation of China, respectively.






Photo courtesy of Siemens

5 Responses to “China building super highway for clean power”

  1. Grant Allen

    ABB actually built the first commercial HVDC system back in the 50s. There are now over 120 HVDC systems in operation in the world, half of which have been supplied by ABB.

    Other breakthroughs:

    Multi-terminal transmission

    Large-scale transmission between more than two converter stations was made possible by ABB. The first multi-terminal HVDC system was built by ABB for the Quebec-New England Phase II HVDC project. The power is generated at La Grande II hydropower station, converted into DC at the Radisson converter station, and transmitted over the multi-terminal system to load centers in Montreal and Boston. ABB is the only company to have developed a multi-terminal HVDC system.

    A completely new power transmission technology

    The latest groundbreaking innovation in power transmission is ABBâ€™s HVDC LightÂ®, a unique technology that extends the economical power range of HVDC transmission down to a few tens of megawatts. It is particularly suitable for small-scale generation and transmission applications. In its upper range, the technology now reaches 1,200 MW and +/-320 kV.

    Following the first commercial installation in Sweden in 1999, HVDC Light has been chosen for a number of underground transmission projects up to 350 MW in the United States, Australia, Europe and Africa.

  2. MaxPower

    How does using DC lines with such high voltage (obviously very low amperage) make such a system more effective than “traditional” AC lines?

    • It all depends on what new technology has come along to better moderate voltages and reduce power losses along the way from a power plant to the distribution network. AC used to be more efficient and incurred lower power losses over long-distance transmission. You can send a lot more power and at a maximum voltage through DC lines, though, and they offer more control over the direction of the power flow. Newer tech as thyristor valves became available in the last several decades to make DC transmission more efficient. Since electricity from solar farms and batteries is in DC, some argue that using DC lines reduces the cost and need of converting DC to AC for transmission, as it’s commonly done now in the U.S.

      • MaxPower

        Hmm, I see. Technology, and innovation I suppose, is what lies behind, then. (:
        I reckon HVDC systems can be easier to work with on paper than AC systems, as well?