Great River Energy is Making History with HVDC Upgrade

Feb. 13, 2019
Great River Energy and ABB, the manufacturer of the utility’s high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) system, will complete an upgrade in Spring 2019

Great River Energy and ABB, the manufacturer of the utility’s high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) system, will complete an upgrade in Spring 2019 during a planned 74-day HVDC system outage. The project will merge today’s HVDC technology with the existing system, helping to ensure Great River Energy and its member co-ops can count on continued reliability for the next 30 years.

Since 2011, the utility has been preparing for this major upgrade to its HVDC transmission system. Such systems are unique, and Great River Energy’s is one of a few of its kind in the world. It is also one of the utility’s most valuable assets because it delivers nearly all the power from Coal Creek Station, the co-op’s largest power plant, in Underwood, North Dakota, U.S., to Minnesota, U.S., where its 28 member-owner co-ops are located.

Following are images of the preparation. For a more detailed article on the project, see Reliability Upgrade for an HVDC System.

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