Siemens Energy and the NeuConnect consortium have signed a contract for the supply of a turnkey High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission system for the first power link between Great Britain and Germany (NeuConnect Interconnector).
The HVDC link will enable up to 1.4GW of electricity to be exchanged in both directions. The NeuConnect power link will transport the excess (renewable) power from Germany to Great Britain, and vice versa if necessary. To connect the two power grids, Siemens Energy will build two turnkey HVDC converter stations - one in the Isle of Grain in England, the other in the Wilhelmshaven region in the north of Germany. The converter station on one side of the link converts AC voltage to DC voltage so that the energy can be transmitted with as little loss as possible. The energy is then transported through British, Dutch and German waters via a 720-kilometer-long HVDC submarine cable system from Prysmian. In the other converter station, the direct current is converted back into alternating current and fed into the national grid, which brings the energy to the sockets of the consumers.
