Modernity, outstanding quality and high reliability are the trademarks of ABB's high voltage power cables factory in the historic naval port and UNESCO World Heritage Site of Karlskrona. With its own deep-water harbour and a 160 metre vertical extrusion tower, as well as research and development laboratories, the factory is regarded as one of the most advanced in the world. The Karlskrona plant creates the world's longest underground and submarine cable installations, including a 580 kilometre long high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable that enables electricity transmission between Norway and the Netherlands. Today, the factory can also boast maximum efficiency thanks to a power protection system provided by PCS100 UPS-I.
Although the cables manufactured in Karlskrona can be hundreds of kilometres long, every millimetre of each cable has to be flawless. However, as in any facility, the factory is susceptible to grid disturbances, such as voltage sags, surges and outages. For these reasons, special attention was paid to eliminating risks caused by grid disturbances.
To secure the factory's operations, ABB's leading edge power protection solution, PCS100 UPS-I, was chosen. This innovative system disconnects the load from the utility during a power quality event and supplies the load from its storage, allowing processes to ride through common power problems. The extremely high efficiency (typically at 99 percent) of PCS100 UPS-I, together with the system's modularity and small footprint design, constitute a perfect solution for most industrial applications.
The investment in PCS100 UPS-I is part of ABB's plan to double the production capacity of the Karlskrona manufacturing facility to satisfy an increasing demand for high voltage cables. To make this possible, two UPS-I units of 2100 kVA support two individual production lines, effectively eliminating voltage disturbances and outages, thereby improving product quality and boosting production. The installation and commissioning of the units was performed locally under ABB supervision and completed in April 2012.
Successful commissioning of the PCS100 UPS-I system
Inside Karlskrona's factory
