wiredInUSA May 2017

Russian producer plans wider range

Cooperation secures HVDC contract

Russian aluminum producer UC Rusal has installed a new rolling mill at its Kandalaksha aluminum smelting facility in Murmansk. Part of a $19.8 million cast house modernization project currently underway at the plant, the Properzi rolling mill is expected to produce up to fifty thousand metric tons of products each year. At present the plant produces wire in only 9mm diameter, but once in full production the new mill will produce wire rods ranging from 9mm to 25mm in diameter. In addition to new diameters of wire, the press will allow the plant to produce wires in different alloys. Rusal believes that the main consumers of the new wires will be primarily cable manufacturing plants, both domestic and overseas. “The launch of the rolling mill at Kandalaksha aluminum smelter is another step within Rusal’s strategy to increase the output of value added products,” explained Rusal’s CEO Vladislav Soloviev. “…The smelter will start operating at full production capacity in 2017, having increased the production of the smelter up to 72.5 thousand tonnes per year.”

A consortium of Siemens and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd has an order from the Indian transmission operator Power Grid Corporation of India for an HVDC transmission system. The 200km long HVDC connection will be India’s first DC link featuring voltage-sourced converter (VSC) technology. VSC offers a stable and flexible reactive power control, independent of active power control, and additional features to support AC systems. Siemens will supply two converter stations with two parallel converters, each rated 1,000MW, using its VSC HVDC technology. Sumitomo Electric will be responsible for the XLPE HVDC cable system in the DC circuit. The Pugalur-Trichur ±320kV HVDC system will connect Pugalur in Tamil Nadu to Trichur in Kerala state, south-west India. The Trichur converter station will be connected via underground XLPE HVDC cable to a transition station, also being built by Siemens. Sumitomo Electric will supply a 128km XLPE HVDC cable system comprising four cables for a route of 32km each.

wiredInUSA - May 2017

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