ABB has won an order worth around $30 million from Svenska Kraftnät in Sweden and Energinet in Denmark. ABB will upgrade the control and protection system for the Konti-Skan HVDC transmission link with its latest ABB Ability MACH technology. The order was booked in the second quarter of 2017.
The Konti-Skan transmission link was built 52 years ago as the first interconnection between Sweden and Denmark enabling electricity exchange. This provided the benefits of a shared grid with additional features from the HVDC system, which has enabled the exchange of renewable hydropower and wind energy for decades. The installation of ABB’s latest MACH control and protection system will extend the life span of the HVDC link and further enhance power availability as well as grid reliability and efficiency through advanced digitalization.
The ABB Ability MACH system acts like the brain of the HVDC link – monitoring, controlling and protecting the sophisticated technology in the stations to ensure reliability and efficiency. It incorporates advanced fault registration and remote control functions.
Konti-Skan was built in two phases, beginning in 1965 with Konti-Skan 1, followed by Konti-Skan 2 in 1988. ABB’s technology will enable the two to work together as a single system. The full system upgrade involves the replacement of the control system. ABB leads the industry in major HVDC upgrades, having executed projects around the world with minimized power interruption.