Worldwide there is an increasing interest in the application of HVDC at voltage levels above what is presently used. The main reason is that most of the hydro power resources that are within convenient distance to the consumer centers have been exploited by now, and in order to meet the increasing demand for clean, renewable energy, remote hydro generation plants are built. This asks for efficient means for long distance, bulk power transmission, a typical scenario is 6000 MW to be transmitted 2000-3000 km. Also in countries like China and India with vast coal resources, a certain quota of hydro power is needed for stabilizing purposes.
In China large hydropower resources are available in the
Western part of the country and the power will be transmitted to the industrialized regions in the Eastern and Southern areas of China.
In India transfer of the hydropower generated at the Bramaputra River Basin in the North-Eastern part of India will have to be transmitted to the southern part of the country where the power is needed.
In Africa there is a great potential for power production at the basin of the Congo River near the location of Inga.
Parts of the power is planned to be transmitted to South Africa.
In Brazil vast hydropower resources are located in the Amazon region, while the power consumer centers are located along the eastern coast.
In several investigations that have been carried out in the past, the common conclusion has been that for these big amounts of power and long distances the use of 800 kV HVDC is the most economical solution.
The realization of an 800 kV HVDC system is of course a matter of insulation. Most of the equipment will not be affected and equipment for lower voltages is often built up by modules with resistive and capacitive voltage grading that can be extrapolated to higher voltages by adding more modules.
In order to meet the requirements from the market, ABB is at present working with development of equipment for 800 kV HVDC.
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