August 27, 2012
Alstom has been awarded a turnkey contract worth approximately €400 million by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, to connect Champa, Chhattisgarh in Central India, to Kurukshetra, Haryana in Northern India, using ±800 kV 3,000 MW Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) technology. This advanced UHVDC system will meet the bulk power transfer requirement from Chhattisgarh region – a hub of Independent Power Producers of thermal power – to the load centre located in the northern region of the country, through a 1,365 km transmission line, creating an “energy highway” of clean, efficient power.
Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will deliver ±800 kV UHVDC thyristor valves, 32 converter transformers, 400/220 kV gas-and air-insulated switchgear and substation equipment, communication and supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA). The scope of work includes overall project management, studies, design, engineering, training, manufacture, civil works at site, erection, site testing and commissioning.
The main Alstom units involved in the project will be the HVDC Centre of Excellence in Stafford (UK), and the Alstom Grid India units located at Noida, Hosur, Padappai, Pallavaram and Vadodara in India.
“Alstom’s recent technological advances in HVDC, be it with 800 kV Line Commutated Converter (LCC) or Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technology, demonstrate the Group’s commitment to continuous developments in the Ultra High Voltage energy sector,” said Grégoire Poux-Guillaume, Alstom Grid President. “We are very pleased to have been selected by Power Grid India as they are one of the world leading transmission utilities in terms of vision and application in the domain of Supergrids.”
Pioneer of HVDC solutions for 50 years, Alstom has notably built the Ningdong-Shandong 660 kV transmission scheme in China and is currently working on the Rio Madeira project in Brazil, the world’s longest HVDC link. Most recently Svenska Kraftnät selected Alstom’s Voltage Source Converter technology, HVDC MaxSineTM, for the South-West link project in Sweden. In India, Alstom has supplied HVDC systems for Vizag (State of Andhra Pradesh), Chandrapur (State of Maharashtra) and Sasaram (State of Bihar).