High Voltage Direct Current Cable Projects Expanding Worldwide

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In order to provide much needed electrical load while also addressing the environmental impact of new generation and associated greenhouse gas emissions, utilities are increasingly finding answers in investing in high voltage direct current (HVDC) projects as a lower cost, fast and environmentally friendly alternative to building new power plants. Two prime examples of HVDC projects are the Neptune Regional Transmission System Project and the Trans Bay Cable Project. Neptune, which was just recently commissioned, consists of a 65 mile HVDC cable capable of carrying 660 megawatts of electricity between Sayreville, New Jersey and Long Island, New York. The Trans Bay Cable Project is a 55 mile HVDC installation converting electricity from alternating current to direct current in the City of Pittsburg, California, and then transmitting under the bay and converting direct current back to alternating current once the power reaches San Francisco. This project upon completion will be able to supply 400 megawatts to the San Francisco area. In most of these projects the use of a submarine (sub-sea) HVDC cable will allow for transmission of direct current over a very long distance with minimal energy loss.

HVDC underground/underwater cables also provide significant advantages compared to overhead power line. For example:

· No need to constantly trim and remove tree and vegetation growth from power poles and lines.

· Cost savings to the community in terms of amenity, property values, and health risks.

· Reduces the risk of damage from natural causes such as ice storms, wind earthquake, fire.

· Little or no environmental impact, as the cables normally follow existing power line right of ways or roads.

· Virtually no magnetic radiation is associated with a bi-polar DC cable as the positive and negative conductors in the cable cancel each other out.

· Bi-directional, meaning that electricity can move in either direction depending on load needs. This is critical when more than one grid is connected to another in that electricity can be directed to the grid in times of deficit until the time that load can be normalized.

· Black start capability can be achieved through the cable. If one end is still supplying electrical load, the power can be routed to power plants on the other end to run auxiliary equipment until generators can be brought online and are self sustaining. This would be critical in a blackout such as the 2003 Northeast outage that put 50 million people in the dark and shut down 265 power plants, 22 of these being nuclear.

·Permitting for underground HVDC lines would be preferable and easier to obtain in large area generation projects, such as a windfarm and the additions that normally go with these type projects. This also calls for better means to maintain good power quality, as the variable operating conditions that wind power plants are subjected to result in flicker and variations of reactive power.

In the northeast where population density prohibits the building of new power plants, this is a viable short-term answer for electrical load growth, which will increase from 57,402 megawatts to 62,623 megawatts in the Northeast Power Coordinating Council control region by 2010 according to the Energy Information Administration statistics.

Worldwide HVDC cable projects are a diversified mix, from China ABB Group (ABB) was instrumental in the installation of two long distance lines of 940 kilometers and 1,060 kilometers with 3,000 megawatts of power each, that ran from Three Gorges Dam to major load centers in Shanghai and Guangdong.

Siemens was recently awarded the BritNed link between Great Britain and the Netherlands, which will supply 1,000 megawatts, and travel under one of the most inhospitable environments in the world, the North Sea. This project will span 260 kilometers and is estimated to cost about $820 million. The project is expected to be commissioned some time in 2010.

New York Power Authority (NYPA) has approved a proposal by Hudson Transmission Partners LLC of Fairfield, Connecticut to build eight miles of buried transmission cable, four miles of which will be beneath the Hudson River, and supply 660 megawatts of electricity between Ridgefield, New Jersey and midtown Manhattan.

Between Victoria, British Colombia and Port Angeles, Washington the Juan de Fuca cable project is a 550-megawatt HVDC construction project that will run 49 kilometers in length with 34 kilometers being a high voltage submarine cable. The estimated cost of $200 million dollars would be far less expensive than a comparable thermal power plant of the same megawatt capacity and the HVDC cable would be bi-directional, which would benefit both the state of Washington and the Canadian province of British Colombia.

The transmission of bulk power over long distances was not possible during the early days of electricity because of the energy losses to electric equipment, and wire resistance but starting in the early 1940's with the invention of the mercury arc valve, and since the 1970's with semiconductor devices, HVDC projects have become more economical and preferable as an alternative to new generation projects. There are over 100 HVDC projects world wide according to ABB Group (ABB), a leader in HVDC equipment and project development. This trend in electrical generation, without the addition of green house gases associated with traditional projects, bodes well for the industry and will be tracked closely by Industrial Info Resources now and in the future.

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