Siemens is to supply eight converter transformers for the Nemo Link project, a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system connecting Belgium and Great Britain.
The customer is Nemo Link, a joint venture between National Grid Nemo Link Limited, a subsidiary company of the UK’s National Grid Plc, and the Belgian Elia Group.
The HVDC link will deliver a transmission capacity of 1,000 MW – enough to power 500,000 households. The value of the transformer order amounts to over EUR 32 million. Commercial operation of the link is scheduled to commence in 2019.
“At our Nuremberg transformer plant, where our engineering and sales efforts for these transformers are based, we have developed our HVDC transformers into the industry’s technological state of the art,” said Beatrix Natter, CEO of Siemens’ Transformers Business Unit.
“Our extensive expertise and the certified quality of our manufacturing facilities make Siemens Transformers the technology leader for these high-tech products.”
Four of the power transformers will be installed in Herdersburg, near Bruges. The other four transformers will be shipped to the project site in Richborough, 20 kilometers west of Canterbury.
In June 2015, Siemens had already been awarded the order for turnkey erection of the link’s two converter stations using HVDC Plus technology with a transmission voltage of ±400 kV DC, and also concluded a service and maintenance agreement for five years.
Nemo Link has been designated as one of the European Commission’s projects of common interest to help create an integrated European Union energy market. The project will enhance energy security in both countries and promote the integration of renewable energy sources such as offshore-generated wind power.