Zurich, Switzerland, Oct. 5, 2007 - ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has received an order worth $110 million from E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH to supply an advanced railway power converter system for a power station in Germany.
ABB will supply the 400-megawatt (MW) system for E.ON's new 1100 MW coal-fired power station, currently under construction in Datteln, in the Rhein-Ruhr region, to provide electricity to German railways. It will be the largest power converter system of this type ever built.
"This project underscores our market leadership in power electronics," said Tom Sjoekvist, head of ABB's Automation Products division. "Building power converters for every kind of application is a core expertise at ABB, enabling us to deliver a system of record capacity that will also meet customer needs for operational and energy efficiency."
The railway power converter system will change the frequency of electricity produced by the E.ON power plant to the lower frequency used by rail systems in central Europe - from 50 hertz (Hz) to 16.7 Hz. Rail systems in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway all use electrical power at low frequency.
ABB is responsible for engineering, equipment delivery, installation and commissioning of the system, which will be delivered in 2010. The plant startup is scheduled for 2011.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 111,000 people.
