IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2017 - 100

Chair of Power Electronics of Kiel University
presents

The Smart
Transformer
Impact on the Electric
Grid and Technology
Challenges

Course:
Time:
Location:
Language:

Industrial / Ph.D.
Feb 21-23, 2018
Kiel, Germany
English

The Smart Transformer (ST) is a power electronics-based transformer with advanced control
functionalities, which can optimally integrate energy storage in the grid. This course investigates its
possible services to the electric grid plus the power electronics technologies which could enable
these services.This course consists of 50% lectures and 50% laboratory experiments. (4 ECTS)
Instructors: Prof. M. Liserre, Kiel University; Prof.
C. Vournas, University of Athens; Prof. G. Buticchi, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

www.pe.tf.uni-kiel.de/en
sha@tf.uni-kiel.de
+49 (0) 431 880 6106

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- International Orange
s Tested and approved by
major power companies!
s Thousands still in service
after 40 years
s Universal attaching! Fits any
wire .1" to 1"!
s Installs in 5 minutes!
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s No maintenance! Does not
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vibration.
s Ships in halves nested.
9, 12, 20, 24, 30, and 36" balls
& special sizes available

Call now 573-796-3812
ext. 2001
Fax 573-796-3770
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23/03/13 10:38 AM

again in 1961 when U.S. President John
F. Kennedy pushed for a substantial public project that used HVdc technology.
ASEA had already submitted a proposal
a year earlier for an HVdc link with the
Bonneville Power Administration that
operated hydropower plants. The link
would transfer power south to the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power.
To handle the transfer of technology
from Sweden to the United States, a licensing agreement was -ultimately made
with General Electric. This was where
Lamm flexed his political muscles. According to Wollard, "Lamm took on his
opponents with equanimity, good humor, and an unassailable marshaling of
facts. He testified before both houses of
Congress, went to lunch with senators,
and talked up the Intertie with ASEA's
influential customers."
California's private power companies
cited HVdc's technical hurdles as reasons why it would not be feasible. The
power companies even hired a consulting
firm to research and support their case.
However, Lamm defended the technical merits of HVdc during an IEEE
meeting in 1963 in New York.
Lamm continued to be actively involved in the Pacific DC Intertie, answering many technical questions about
HVdc. He also instilled confidence in
those who were uneasy about the new
technology. The Pacific DC Intertie was
commissioned in 1970. Combined with
the ac transmission portion of the greater Pacific Intertie, it saved the electric
customers in Los Angeles an estimated
US$600,000 per day.
The Pacific DC Intertie, like the
Gotland project, would be improved
over the years and continued operating
decades after commissioning. The Intertie was upgraded in 1985 to a capacity of 2,000 MW. During an expansion
commissioned in 1989, a new 1,100 MW
converter station was installed in parallel with existing stations, bringing the
total capacity to 3,100 MW. The Sylmar
converter station was upgraded on two
separate occasions after damage from
earthquakes in 1973 and again in 1994.
The 1994 incident damaged the original
mercury-arc valves, so a new 500-kV,

Washington
Celilo
Oregon
Pacific
Alternating
Current
Intertie

Pacific
Direct
Current
Intertie
Nevada

California

Sylmar

figure 4. A map of the Pacific dc
Intertie. (Image from Wikimedia
-Commons, in the public domain.)

3,100-MW converter station was constructed that used much of the original
station's equipment. Finally, the Celilo
station was refurbished in 2016 and upgraded to 3,800 MW.

Developments in
HVdc Technology and
Where It Is Today
It is hard to say where HVdc technology would be without the contributions
made by Lamm. He was at the forefront
in developing the mercury-arc valve.
He was also a key player in promoting
the propagation of HVdc installations
around the world. (See Figure 5.)
Early HVdc installations started with
modest capabilities but quickly progressed
over the past 60 years. The HVdc Gotland project in 1954, for example, was
only 100 kV with a power transfer of
20 MW. In 2017, there are HVdc installations with up to 800 kV and power transfer
capabilities approaching 8,000 MW, and
even larger ones are planned for the fu-ture.
Lamm's mercury-arc valve technology was superseded by the thyristor
in the late 1960s, with the first completely thyristor-based HVdc project

http://www.pe.tf.uni-kiel.de/en http://www.tanawiremarker.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2017