Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), in a statement, said that it was proud to be associated with the newly-commissioned Raigarh-Pugalur UHVDC link.
“BHEL is proud to have been associated in building this prestigious project of national importance, which will bring relief to the power deficit Southern Grid,” the BHEL statement said.
The bipolar 800kV Raigarh-Pugalur Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) link connects the Western Region Grid (Raigarh, Chhattisgarh) and the Southern Region Grid (Pugalur, TamilNadu) with a transfer capacity of 6,000 mw.
BHEL’s contribution
For this project, among other equipment and systems, BHEL has significantly contributed by supplying converter transformers, shunt reactors, filter bank capacitors and instrument transformers from its Bhopal plant in Madhya Pradesh, and thyristor valves from its Electronics Division, Bengaluru, Karnataka.
These thyristor valves are used to convert AC power generated at the IPPs at Raigarh into DC power for transmitting it over a HVDC transmission line of over 1,800 km and then converting it back into AC at the Pugalur end for interconnection with the Southern Grid.
BHEL, in partnership with Hitachi-ABB Power Grids Ltd, had secured this landmark order from Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd in 2016.
Second UHVDC project for BHEL
This is the second UHVDC transmission project by BHEL, the statement observed. Prior to this, BHEL had successfully executed, the first of its kind in the world, Agra Converter Terminal for North-East Agra 800kV, 6,000 mw, Multi-Terminal HVDC link in September-2016 (Bipole-1) and September-2017 (Bipole-2).
BHEL has been associated with HVDC projects in India since their inception by establishing the first HVDC link in the country between Barsoor (Chhattisgarh) and Lower Sileru (Andhra Pradesh). Subsequently, BHEL has been involved in successful execution of several HVDC links like Rihand-Dadri, Chandrapur-Padghe and Ballia-Bhiwadi links.
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HVDC capabilities
BHEL has established state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for HVDC products up to 800 kV and undertakes turnkey projects from concept to commissioning as an EPC contractor for EHV substations, HVDC converter stations and FACTS solutions backed by power system studies, the release added.
Featured photograph (source: Hitachi Power Grids in India) shows the converter station of the Raigarh-Pugalur UHVDC link, at the Pugalur end.
