Electrical Monitor
 

Alstom delivers transformers for world’s longest power transmission line

Em News BureauTuesday, April 23, 2013, 12:13 Hrs  [IST]

Alstom WuhanTwo transformers manufactured by Alstom’s Wuhan factory in China for Brazil’s Rio Madeira transmission line contract have arrived at the Porto Velho substation in north-west Brazil. The total journey of the transformers from Wuhan to Porto Velho, covering a distance of 23,000 km, took around 70 days with stops in Shanghai (China), Manaus (Brazil) and Porto Velho.

The Rio Madeira project will be the longest power transmission line in the world, measuring over 2,375 km in length. The aim of the project is to bring the electricity produced at the two hydropower stations aggregating 6,300 mw in Porto Velho (in the Amazon region) to large populated cities in the south. The completed HVDC link will help to meet growing demands to generate power from renewable, hydro electrical energy sources and transport it efficiently and reliably across Brazil and into the national grid.

The project represents a significant challenge due to the complexity of technologies at high voltage levels, up to 600 kV. In all, Alstom will supply 28 transformers from its world class testing and manufacturing sites in Stafford (UK), Canoas (Brazil) and Wuhan (China). The two transformers from Wuhan are the first ever produced by a China-based manufacturer for an export customer. Six further transformers produced by the Canoas site are currently being transported to substations in Porto Velho and Araraquara.

Alstom China BrazilIn September 2009, Alstom was awarded an order worth approximately $400 million for twenty-eight 600kV DC converter transformers, for the Rio Madeira project, a 2,375-km HVDC power transmission line from the Northwest to the Southeast of Brazil. The project will be delivered for commercial operation mid-2013.

Alstom Grid’s Wuhan Transformer factory successfully tested the four 600kV DC converter transformers destined for the Brazilian Rio Madeira project in October 2012. The dielectric and performance tests are designed to respectively verify the insulation operating under high voltage stress and prove the electrical parameters of transformers. All these tests showed that the transformers perform in line with or exceed design specification.

Built in 2009, Alstom Grid Wuhan power factory is a keystone in the company’s dynamics in China. After just one year, the factory designed, built and successfully tested an 800kV DC prototype whose design has now been used for the Rio Madeira project.

 
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