Hitachi Energy, based in Switzerland, has been awarded a contract to provide a transmission solution for SuedLink DC4, a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line between Germany’s north and south regions. TenneT and TransnetBW, two German transmission system operators (TSOs), awarded the company the contract. At each end of the SuedLink DC4 transmission line, Hitachi Energy will install its HVDC Light converter station as per the contract.
For delivery across the link, the converter stations will convert the alternating current (AC) power from the transmitting grid to direct current (DC), before converting it back to AC power at the other end. SuedLink DC4 will be capable of transferring up to 2 GW of clean energy, which is enough to power five million German homes. Three cable section stations are also included in the contract to hasten the link’s fault identification.
In July 2022, Ørsted gave contracts to Hitachi Energy of Switzerland and Aibel of Norway to connect the 2.85 GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind project to the UK power grid. Hitachi Energy would supply two high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) light converter systems to enable power transmission from the Hornsea 3 project, which would be located more than 120 kilometres off the east coast of the UK. Aibel would be in charge of the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of two HVDC converter platforms.
