HVDC Link

[Kevin Milkins]

I just watched this short film on the front page of the org regarding the production and transport of electricity from the far North., http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KMyJdEctlOw. Very interesting and innovative stuff.

[David Banks]

Having worked for ABB for more than 20 years (now retired), I have always been impressed by their commitment to research and development. When I joined ASEA, they were already recognised as the "inventors" of HVDC, having installed a system linking the island of Gotland to the Swedish mainland about 60 years ago. At the beginning, the rectification of AC to DC and DC back to AC was done (as I understand it) with mercury arc rectifiers.

Nowadays this is done by large solid-state devices (something like transistors) which are manufactured at a Brown Boveri plant in Switzerland. I do not know if this synergy influenced the merger of ASEA and Brown Boveri into ABB, but they certainly have not looked back since then.

They continue to be the world leader in HVDC and in other transmission technologies - e.g.: you may have recently read on the main caithness.org community website about ABB's involvement in the MeyGen project.

If you enjoy dreaming about what is possible in the future, as like I do, the fact that the long distance transmission of electrical energy by HVDC is more efficient than AC transmission - even considering the energy consumed in the AC/DC DC/AC converter stations - then imagine what could happen. Already now, HVDC is the only way to transmit underwater, or large amounts over long distances. And some thought the debate over which was better, DC or AC, was over a century ago? Stay tuned.

[Rheghead]

Good video. An efficient grid will be good news for energy supplies, the environment and our pockets. And some will say that fewer unsightly electricity generators will be needed as there will be reduced energy loss on the system.

[David Banks]

Good video. An efficient grid will be good news for energy supplies, the environment and our pockets. And some will say that fewer unsightly electricity generators will be needed as there will be reduced energy loss on the system.

I can tell you that above-ground transmission lines for HVDC are much less imposing on the environment that AC. We all know the transmission towers with six bunches of cables (three each side) marching to the horizon.

I have only seen one HVDC transmission line - it was in South Africa, and it was going through Kruger Park (as I remember it), but to me it did not seem like an unwelcome intrusion into the landscape of such a valuable location.