Alstom Grid, a unit of energy company Alstom (ALO.PA), announced that it will provide the HVDC converter technology for the Tres Amigas SuperStation, a first-of-its-kind power transmission hub that will link America’s three primary electric transmission grids.
The project, to be located in Clovis, New Mexico near the Texas/New Mexico border, is expected to enhance the reliability of the country’s electricity network and facilitate the efficient transfer of clean energy between regions, notably interconnecting the Eastern (Southwest Power Pool), Western (Western Electricity Coordinating Council) and Texas (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) networks.
Alstom Grid will immediately begin engineering design for the transmission interconnection which will employ an innovative application of its latest technology in Voltage Source Converters (VSC). Construction is expected to commence in 2012 and the SuperStation is scheduled to begin commercial operations by 2014.
When operational, the SuperStation will serve to improve power reliability and solve voltage and stability problems caused by the intermittent generation of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal. It will have significant reactive power capability that can be controlled at each interconnection, improving stability, transfer capability and transmission efficiency.
Based in Santa Fe, NM, Tres Amigas LLC is a business venture backed by a number of prominent investors and partners, including American Superconductor (Nasdaq: AMSC), AltEnergy, LLC, Z Global Engineering & Energy Solutions, Viridity Energy, London Economics, Steptoe & Johnson, Burns & McDonell and Xtreme Power Solutions.
Alstom Grid has close to 50 years of power electronics experience
applied to the design and delivery of large-scale, high voltage power
transmission projects around the world.
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