ABB wins order for world's longest HVDC line

3 August 2009


Engineering firm Abengoa Group has awarded ABB a series of orders worth over $540 million to provide equipment for the world’s longest power link.

The Swiss technology company is to provide the key equipment for a 2500 km-long high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line in Brazil that will link two new hydropower plants in northwest Brazil with São Paulo.

The Rio Madeira will be the longest HVDC link ever built and will transmit power at very high voltage to minimize transmission losses. It will be Brazil’s second 600 kV HVDC line after the Itaipu line, which transmits power from the huge Itaipu dam, until recently the world's largest, on the Brazil-Paraguay border to São Paulo.

“HVDC technology is ideally suited for the efficient transmission of renewable energy generated in remote areas, such as hydropower,” said Peter Leupp, head of ABB’s Power Systems division. “With the Itaipu project celebrating 25 years of successful operation this year, ABB is proud to continue partnering Brazil in its ongoing efforts to strengthen the country's power network.”?

ABB will provide two 3150 MW HVDC converter stations, and an 800 MW HVDC back to back station to transmit power to São Paulo and the alternating current network in the northwest of the country. The stations are scheduled for completion in 2012.

The transmission project, and the associated hydropower projects on the Madeira River in northwest Brazil are part of the Brazilian government’s growth acceleration programme (PAC). The hydropower projects include the 3.15 GW Santo Antônio plant and the 3.3 GW Jirau project.

HVDC has lower losses and a smaller footprint than traditional AC transmission systems, and is able to stabilise intermittent power supply faults that might otherwise disrupt the grid. For these reasons, it is the technology of choice for most long-distance transmission projects, which can deliver electricity from remote generation sources to the centres where it is needed.




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