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ABB wins US$140m transformer order |
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Written by James Ockenden
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 | | ABB HVDC converter station |
ABB has won a US$140 million (RMB956 million) order to deliver transformers to the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) for a high-voltage power corridor that will strengthen the Chinese electricity network and help meet rising demand in the Shandong coastal region.
The power link will transmit 4,000MW of electricity at 660kV over 1,350km, from Ningxia province to Shandong, China’s second most populous province. This is part of China’s efforts to develop energy-rich regions and transmit power from areas of surplus to centers of high demand.
The corridor will use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology to maximize transmission efficiency. ABB’s transformers will serve the stations that convert power to direct current for transmission and back to alternating current for distribution, and will be supplied in cooperation with local Chinese partners.
Each converter transformer is extremely large, weighing over 500 tonnes. This presents challenges that will be addressed by technical solutions like reducing the width of the transformers for the Ningxia station, located in a remote and mountainous area, so that they can be transported by rail.
“These high-specification transformers will enable efficient transmission of a large quantity of power across a long distance and with minimum losses,” said Bernhard Jucker, head of ABB's Power Products division.
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