Hitachi Energy and SP Energy Networks collaborate
Innovative combination of two technologies could strengthen grid stability and enhance the flow of renewable energy across the UK.
Image credit: Hitachi Energy
Switzerland, Zürich: Hitachi Energy has won an order from SP Energy Networks to design and deliver a power quality solution to balance the grid and enhance the flow of renewable energy across the UK. The solution could enable SP Energy Networks, the electricity network operator for Central & Southern Scotland and Merseyside, Cheshire, North & Mid-Wales and North Shropshire, to add more renewables into the grid and encourage the phase-out of fossil fuels.
The project, located at SP Energy Networks’ substation at Eccles, consists of two sets of an SVC Light® STATCOM1 and a synchronous condenser controlled centrally by the MACH™ control system, connected at a common electrical node. This combination can maximize the power system’s potential and provide increased system resilience, thus supporting the increasing integration of renewables into the electricity grid.
Each STATCOM installation uses Hitachi Energy’s MACH2 control and protection solution to provide system strength, instantaneous voltage control, and enable maximum power flow. This technology entrusts a STATCOM to control a local synchronous condenser. It builds on an earlier collaboration between the companies on the network innovation competition project Phoenix supported by Ofgem, the energy regulator for the UK.
“The innovative power quality solution will increase the transfer capacity across the UK by up to 280 MW by improving the transmission network’s strength as more renewable generation is connected in Scotland,” said Billy Moore, Senior Project Manager at SP Energy Networks.
“We are delighted to have co-created this innovative solution with SP Energy Networks, which will maintain grid stability and enable more clean electricity to flow through the system in the UK,” said Marco Berardi, Head of Grid & Power Quality Solutions and Service business at Hitachi Energy.
Source: Hitachi Energy