ABB has won orders worth around $900 million from a consortium
comprising leading utilities Statnett and TenneT as well as promotional
bank KfW to supply on-shore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter
stations and the cable system in the German sector that will facilitate
the first ever interconnection between the Norwegian
and German power grids. The link will be 623
kilometers (km) long, making it the longest HVDC connection in Europe.
It is scheduled to go into commercial operation in 2020. The contract also
includes a five-year service agreement. “We
are very pleased to be working with TenneT and Statnett on another landmark
project that will support the integration of the European energy market.
The smart combination of renewable power generation, e.g. solar and wind
in Germany and hydro-electric in Norway, demonstrates that we can technologically
enable a sustainable green energy policy across Europe,” said ABB
CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. “This order underlines ABB’s technology leadership
in HVDC and is another milestone in restoring our Power Systems division
to a path of long-term growth and profitability.”
NordLink
will be key in connecting Norway with Germany and has
been designated as one of the European Commission’s projects of common
interest to help create an integrated European Union energy market. It
will increase energy security in both countries and support the integration
of renewable energy into the countries’ grids by allowing surplus wind
and solar power produced in Germany to be transmitted to Norway, and hydroelectric
power to be transmitted in the opposite direction. The link will transmit
power at a record capacity of 1,400 MW, which is enough to supply 3.6 million
German households.
"The
NordLink project once again demonstrates
ABB’s commitment to the efficient use of renewables; we are bringing clean
power to millions of people and supporting the energy policies of Germany
and Norway,” said Claudio Facchin, President, ABB Power Systems division.
“We pioneered HVDC technology and continue to develop new technologies
that make projects like
NordLink feasible.”
ABB will design, engineer, supply and commission two 525
kilovolt (kV), 1,400 MW converter stations, using its Voltage Sourced Converter
(VSC) technology, called HVDC Light®. One station will be situated near
Tonstad in southern Norway and the other near Wilster in northern Germany.
As part of the project, ABB will also design, manufacture
and install a 525 kV mass impregnated (MI) cable system in the German sector,
which will include 154 km of subsea and 54 km of underground cable.
ABB has been awarded about 100 HVDC projects since it pioneered
the technology 60 years ago. That represents a total installed capacity
of more than 120,000 MW and accounts for about half the global installed
base. ABB further developed the technology in the 1990s by introducing
VSC-HVDC, named HVDC Light®. ABB leads the way in VSC technology and, with
the recently commissioned Skagerrak 4 link, has delivered 15 out of 18
such projects that are in commercial operation around the world. ABB has
more than a century of power cable expertise and has been awarded orders
for over 8,300 km of HVDC cables. ABB is the only supplier that can deliver
both MI and extruded at 525 kV voltage level.
You
can visit the NordLink page HERE on our newly designed interconnectors
page.
Click
here to see project on Interactive map
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