2004-11-18 - More than 150 ABB Power Technologies experts, ABB customers and journalists gathered this week near the sites of the Itaipu dam and the world-famous Iguacu Falls in southern Brazil to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the commissioning of Itaipu, the world’s biggest hydropower plant - at least until Three Gorges Dam in China is fully operational.
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The four-day event started with presentations to media on Monday, at the same time marking this year's 50th anniversary of ABB's development of HVDC (high voltage direct current) technology.
Customers were given an opportunity to listen to ABB Power Technologies specialists as well as representatives of a major utility customer of ABB in Brazil - Furnas Centrais Elétricas S.A. - present topics relating to power generation, transmission and distribution, particularly in Brazil.
The country manager for ABB in Brazil, Joakim Olsson, welcomed the group and began a day-long series of presentations on Wednesday, capped by a dramatic evening light show featuring the star of the show - the huge Itaipu hydropower plant on the Parana River.
World voltage record
Even 20 years after it was commissioned, the HVDC transmission line from Itaipu power plant to the load centers in São Paulo state still holds the world record in voltage at ±600 kV.
Top utilities executives from all over Latin America and as far away as China and Japan attended the conference.
Itaipu broke new ground for direct current (DC) transmission at very high voltages over long distances, and the Chinese have always been keenly interested in the project’s DC transmission capability, observed Gunnar Asplund, ABB’s commissioning manager at Itaipu two decades ago.
HVDC transmission lines at Itaipu have a total rated power of 6,300 megawatts and ±600 kilovolts DC.
Asplund is currently research and development manager of HVDC for ABB Group, which is working hard to push HVDC technology.
"Time ripe to increase voltage"
Asplund (pictured center with Brazil country manager Olsson on the right and John Graham on the left) said: "The time is now ripe to up the voltage (level of HVDC systems) to 800 kV,” adding that the savings in both dollars invested and power losses avoided are significant at higher voltages. An 800 kV AC system requires five transmission lines; an 800 kV DC system would require just two transmission lines.
Furnas’ coordinating director of project expansion, Paulo Cesar Vaz Esmeraldo, said the continuing challenge facing Brazilian utilities is to find reliable, low-cost ways to transfer power from remote generating areas to population centers where it is consumed, usually over long distances. Furnas is seeking viable AC and DC transmission solutions, he said.
Furnas operations superintendent, Cesar Ribeiro Zani, observed that the saying “power is nothing without control” should become the motto of ABB’s HVDC systems, which he said are reliable, robust, flexible and offer perfect system control.
Integrating renewable sources of energy
During a discussion period after the conference presentations, a representative of Brazil’s transmission system regulator proposed holding another conference to explore the value of ABB’s unique HVDC Light technology, which he said could help Brazil integrate large-scale wind power production planned for the near future.
ABB systems, equipment and expertise were to the forefront throughout the event, which ended with a tour on Thursday of the Itaipu plant that supplies the heavily populated and industrialized southern and central region of Brazil with 30 percent of its power needs.
ABB’s contribution to the Itaipu project was enormous: ABB supplied half of the 18 generators in operation at the plant, all of the transmission lines, the biggest gas/insulated switchgear (GIS) installation, nearly all of the transformers, and the plant’s control system.
The vast scale of Itaipu - which began construction in 1974 - made it necessary to improve and increase the power and capacity of every component in the project, as the technology available at the time was not sufficient to meet Itaipu’s requirements.
ABB stabilized and increased the power load on the AC transmission corridor from the power plant by installing seven banks of 800 kV series capacitors from its flexible alternating current transmission systems (FACTS) family.
Providing power to the big cities
The world’s first series compensator installations at the 800 kV voltage level allow maximum power transfers over the 900 kilometer-long AC transmission link from Itaipu to Rio de Janeiro and the biggest city in South America - São Paulo (population 18 million).
Itaipu power plant also contains the largest 550 kV gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) installation in the world, at least until the Three Gorges power plant is completely operative.
ABB’s GIS is small enough to fit between the generator hall and the wall of the dam for maximum use of available space in a compact power station design.
An ABB Ranger power plant control system (since folded into Network Manager) controls the Itaipu plant.