Siemens receives order to deliver world’s first 1,100 kV HVDC transformers | • | First 1,100 kV converter transformers worldwide for the world’s largest HVDC transmission project |
| • | Scope of supply contains with 587 Megavoltampere (MVA) most powerful converter transformers of the World |
Together with local partners Siemens will deliver the world’s first 1,100 kilovolt (kV) converter transformers for the world’s largest and first high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission link, which has a transmission voltage of 1,100 kV DC. They are also the most powerful converter transformers in the world, with a capacity of 587.1 megavoltamperes (MVA). The HVDC link will be operated by the transmission grid operator State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). The planned 1,100 kV HVDC transmission link between Changji and Guquan, which is currently the world’s biggest HVDC project, is 3,284 kilometers long and has a transmission capacity of twelve gigawatts (GW). It is expected to go into operation at the end of 2018. Pioneering progress in research of the new generation of Siemens converter transformers enables this transmission capacity of twelve gigawatts of this HVDC system, for whose converter station Guquan Siemens will deliver the transformers. Siemens is manufacturing the transformers in its network of factories led by its transformer plant in Nuremberg, Germany, in cooperation with its factory for HVDC transformers in Guangzhou, China. The scope of supply also includes special converter transformers, which can be connected directly to China’s 1,050 kV AC grid, which worldwide never has been realized in this way before.
“With our transformers and our technology, we support a global power grid, called Global Energy Interconnection, GEI,” said Beatrix Natter, CEO of the Transformers Business Unit within the Siemens Energy Management Division. “In this way, we are also helping to interconnect the global ultra high-voltage three-phase grids and ultra high-voltage DC grids on the 1100 kV DC and 1050 kV AC level.”
Siemens completely redesigned all key components of its 1,100 kV converter transformers on the basis of many years of experience constructing HVDC transformers. In manufacturing these kinds of transformers, the company is entering a new dimension in HVDC technology. The Changji-Guquan system will transmit power with a transmission voltage of 1,100 kV DC for the first time worldwide. As core components of every HVDC transmission system, the converter transformers are responsible for converting the voltage of the three-phase grid into 1,100 kV transmission voltage in order to supply the converters.
“Our transformers for cutting edge HVDC transmission project in China have positioned us as the industry leader,” Natter said. “The innovations being implemented here will benefit our entire product range.” In developing the 1,100 kV converter transformers, the main goal was to meet the extraordinarily stringent requirements imposed on the insulation systems of these high-tech transformers at a voltage level of 1,100 kV. For example, the two valve bushings through which the current flows from the interior of the transformers into the converters are approximately 19 meters long, due to the necessary insulation clearance in air. With bushings, the transformers are 37.8 meters long, 5.85 meters high and 5.20 meters wide. With insulating oil, they weigh 823 metric tons, and the transport weight is 490 metric tons. This press release is available at www.siemens.com/press/PR2016070340EMEN
For further information on Division Energy Management, please see
www.siemens.com/energy-management
For further information on Siemens HVDC transformers, please see www.siemens.com/transformers.
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