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High voltage
direct current
(HVDC)
transmission
Transporting
up to
900
MW
Highlights
High voltage direct current
(HVDC) transmission
is a power electronics technology used to enable
electricity to travel over long distances. As
Yannick
Moison
, Product Manager in our Power Electronics
business, explains, «In Brazil, India and China, the
inland power stations are located far from some of
the large coastal cities, and in Europe the challenges
include transporting power from offshore windfarms
to the onshore grid via subsea cables and trading
electricity between neighboring countries.»
Technology optimized by Mersen
In both cases, HVDC lines can efficiently carry the
power, with a minimum of current loss. Mersen
supports the power converters by supplying liquid
cooling devices acclaimed for their robustness and
reliability. «» «They are strategic projects, which
impact a country’s infrastructure and where you have
to be capableof designing the components, producing
them in vast quantities and offering effective
technical support throughout the development
phase», adds Yannick Moison.
In 2014, for example, Mersen worked with Alstom on
Phase II of the Champa HDVC link in India, which will
carry power generated by a dam to several coastal
cities. In Canada, thyristors used in the Lower Churchill
project are being cooled with Mersen devices. Lastly,
in Germany, where the national energy transition
program is in full swing, our teams worked on the
DolWin3 and Borwin3 North Sea windfarm projects.
12 13
THE YEAR IN
BRIEF
«
Mersen worked with
Alstom to co-develop the largest
brush-rockers ever made. ».
Staying the course with NAWSA
The North American Wind Service Alliance (NAWSA), the only integrated wind
power service network in North America, continued to enjoy sustained demand in
2014. NAWSA regularly calls upon Mersen’s skills and fast response capabilities to
ensure maximum uptime and quality of service.
200,000 units for
Europe’s largest solar farm
Mersen is helping to build Europe’s largest solar farm,
located in the municipality of Cestas, near Bordeaux,
France, which is scheduled to start operating at the
end of 2015. Clemessy, the Eiffage subsidiary in
charge of connecting the park to the national grid, has
ordered electrical protection components especially
adapted to photovoltaic applications, including low-
voltage switches, surge protection systems, fuses
and fuse holders, for a total of more than 200,000
Helioprotection® units..
Enabling hydro
PSP technology
Pump storage power (PSP) technology was a core
factor in two major contracts won in 2014. Mersen
supplies enormous brush-rockers capable of pumping
water during off-peak periods and then acting as
turbines to generate electricity when demand is high.
The technology was successfully exported to Portugal
withVoith and toSwitzerland for a project to extend the
largest pumped storage hydroelectric plant in the Alps.
During the project, Mersen worked with Alstom to co-
develop the largest brush-rockers ever made.