Hitachi Energy installs South Korea’s first VSC converter
The Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has inaugurated its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations on Jeju Island in collaboration with Hitachi Energy.
Image credit: Hitachi Energy
South Korea, Jeju Island: The Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has inaugurated its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations on Jeju Island, injecting 200 MW of power into the island’s grid with stability and reliability. The island is located in the Korea Strait south of the Korean Peninsula.
The project, known as the Wando-Dongjeju #3 HVDC converter station project, was developed in collaboration with Hitachi Energy, and is the Republic of Korea’s first Voltage Source Converter (VSC) installation. The facility was inaugurated in the presence of government leaders and KEPCO and Hitachi Energy representatives.
Jeju is a popular tourist destination, hosting over 13 million tourists each year. The project will help meet the island’s growing electricity demand and support its economy. The converter stations will facilitate bidirectional power transfer through subsea DC cables. The HVDC solution improves the efficiency of the island’s interconnections, stabilizes the grid, and minimizes the risk of outages.
“By leveraging our cutting-edge HVDC technology, we are not only helping to meet the current energy demands but also paving the way so that Jeju is carbon-free and powered entirely by renewable energy by 2030,” said Suk-Hwan Choi, Country Managing Director, Hitachi Energy Korea.
“This is an important milestone in our long-standing collaboration with our customer KEPCO to meet the growing energy demand in the country. We were able to bring our multi-cultural understanding to the fore to ensure a successful project execution. With our HVDC systems, we are happy to support South Korea in its efforts to enable a sustainable, flexible, and secure grid for Jeju Island. This will benefit not only the local population but also the millions of tourists, who visit each year,” said Urban Wijk, Project Director of HVDC Wando-Dongjeju, Hitachi Energy.
Source: Hitachi Energy