Siemens Transformer Works in India Delivers Its First HVDC Transformer

2010-11-19 Power Transformer News Siemens

In late July, 2010, the first HVDC transformer left the Siemens transformer works in Kalwa, around 30 kilometers to the east of Mumbai on the west coast of India. The converter transformer with a rating of 500 MVA and a operating voltage of 500 kilovolts (kV) is the first of a total of eleven transformers that Siemens is building in its Indian works for the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system of Adani Power Limited. Siemens Energy is currently constructing a bipolar HVDC system with a rating of 2500 megawatts (MW) for the Indian private investor. Starting in February 2011, the system with the converter transformers from Kalwa is to transmit 2500 megawatts (MW) of electric power over some 960 kilometers from a coal-fired power plant near the port city of Mundra to the industrial regions of Haryana state near New Delhi.

The HVDC transformer is not only the first to leave the transformer works in Kalwa, it is also the biggest and most powerful HVDC transformer ever built in India. "India is a very important market for the growth of our global power business. That is particularly true of HVDC," says Dr. Udo Niehage, CEO of the Power Transmission Division within the Siemens Energy Sector. "The energy market in India is growing at a tremendous rate. To be successful here, we really need the right market access. And that includes being able to produce converter transformers here in India with the same reliability and quality that our customers around the world expect of us."

Opened in December 2007, the Kalwa factory is Siemens' first transformer works in India, serving to satisfy the rapidly industrializing nation's demand for power transformers. While power transformers with ratings of up to 600 MVA and voltages up to 800 kV are by now the factory's bread-and-butter business, the HVDC transformers are one of its specialties. Today, the factory has a workforce of approximately 400 and is designed for an annual production capacity of 15.000 MVA.

Energy efficiency high-voltage direct-current transmission technology (HVDC) is part of Siemens' Environmental Portfolio. In fiscal 2009, revenue from the Portfolio totaled about EUR23 billion, making Siemens the world's largest supplier of eco-friendly technologies. In the same period, the company's products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their CO₂ emissions by 210 million tons. This amount equals the combined annual CO₂ emissions of New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin.