Electrical equipment manufacturer Alstom has received major contracts to supply a transmission link for Canada’s 824-MW Muskrat Falls hydropower development and transformers for Bhutan’s 720-MW Mangdechhu hydro project.
Alstom said it will supply a 900-MW 350-kilovolt bi-pole high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission link from Nalcor Energy’s Lower Churchill project on mainland Labrador to Newfoundland Island. The line is to extend 1,100 kilometers from the Muskrat Falls development near Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador, to Soldiers Pond, Newfoundland.
The company also is to design, supply and install a point-to-point HVDC solution featuring two-line commuted converter stations near the line terminals to convert alternating current to DC and vice-versa, and two cable compounds on both shores of the Strait of Belle Isle to connect submarine cables crossing the strait to the onshore overhead transmission lines.
Alstom said Aug. 27 the Labrador-Island Transmission Link is essential for delivery of energy for Newfoundland and Labrador Province and will enable sale of Newfoundland energy to Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States.
Andritz Hydro received an order in February to supply all hydro-mechanical equipment for Muskrat Falls, one component of the Lower Churchill complex, which could eventually include the 2,250-MW Gull Island plant. Financial closing for the US$4.5 billion hydropower project also was achieved in February.
Alstom T&D India supplies transformers to 720-MW Mangdechhu hydro
Alstom T&D India also received a 550 million rupee (US$9 million) contract to supply four 180-MW transformers for the 720-MW Mangdechhu hydroelectric project being built on the Mangdecchu River in Bhutan’s Trongsa District.
Alstom T&D India’s manufacturing facility in Naini, India, is to supply 13 units of 75-megavolt-ampere, 400-kilovolt generator transformers and an 80-MVAR, 400-kV shunt reactor.
Bhutan and India signed an agreement in 2006 to prepare a detailed project report for the Mangdechhu project, then estimated at 670 MW.
In a meeting in May, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi affirmed their countries’ commitment to constructing more than 2,100 MW of additional hydroelectric power capacity in Bhutan.
