SBI has provided the high-voltage connectors for station converters in the HVDC transmission line between Belgium and UK.
National Grid has contracted GE Energy Connections to supply its latest Utility STATCOM technology at three different substations along its transmission grid. The solution will provide added stability, supporting the UK-Belgium high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection.
GE will install its Utility STATCOM solution on a turnkey basis at the Bolney, Ninfield and Richborough substations. This STATCOM solution will support National Grid’s alternating current (AC) network and the operational reliability of the HVDC connection between the UK and Belgium, which will deliver more than 1 GW of bidirectional power between the two countries. The STATCOM solution can help stabilize the network, particularly during and after faults occur on the network. A stable network will ensure the HVDC interconnection is reliable in supporting the European Union strategy to achieve a competitive and integrated European energy market.
This next-generation STATCOM solution is a Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technology based on Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) architecture leveraged from GE’s robust HVDC solution. This design provides more stable output power than other competitive solutions, helping our customers’ grids handle faults and fault recovery within the industry’s best performance levels. This more powerful design, combined with GE’s Advanced Digital Control system, and experience from almost 400 shunt connected FACTS solutions, offers our customers a complete, world-class, digitally enabled solution.
