CSG Completes First Hybrid Three-Terminal UHVDC Platform

Guangzhou - It was worth the wait!

The three terminals of the multi-terminal ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) converter valves test platform are now complete and on June 29, as the six electrical indicators flashed red on the screen on many workstations as the world's first hybrid three-terminal UHVDC platform, indicating that this state-of-the-art facility has been successfully placed online.

This innovative platform, with a maximum power capacity of 66 MW, can simulate and analyze the operation of the main equipment of the Kunliulong Direct Current Transmission Line Project, a key trans-provincial transmission project that spans a total length of 1,489 kilometers across three provinces in southern China.

The platform’s intellectual programming also inspects and ensures that the main DC equipment is functioning within design specifications as it improves the reliability and all-important stability of the Kunliulong DC transmission lines.

The platform was constructed by China Southern Power Grid and with this new high-speed platform, CSG has reinforced its market leading position in DC transmission technology as the Company looks to attain additional recognition of its key technologies, including multi-terminal DC and VSC-HVDC, throughout key technology sectors throughout the international community.

The Kunliulong Project is the first of its kind to including the construction and use of multi-terminal UHVDC transmission lines and also the first that applies Voltage Source Converter based UHVDC Transmission (VSC-UHVDC).

The project is innovative and technically challenging and offers a platform that examines the function of the UHVDC flexible converter valves. It can detect and solve technical problems at a very early stage, giving, “comprehensive technical support and quality assurance to the Kunliulong Project,” said Rao Hong, Chief Technical Expert, CSG.

Mr. Hong explained that this ±10.5 kV hybrid three-terminal DC platform, with one regular converter valve at the sending terminal and two DC flexible converter valves at the grid terminals, “has been designed and built by CSG to cope with technical problems in the Kunliulong project.”

He added that the platform aims to “fully validate key technologies and newly developed equipment before application, to identify complex technical problems, and to verify the technical specifications of the core equipment.”

Mr. Hong said, “in this way, the platform can ensure that the main DC equipment to function and perform properly as designed, and improve the reliability and stability of the Kunliulong DC transmission lines.”