ABB will replace a 44-year-old series compensation system in Sweden to strengthen the power grid and allow more clean power to flow within the country and to the rest of Europe.
The Swedish utility, Svenska kraftnät, is strengthening the grid and removing bottlenecks that can occur as more renewable power is absorbed into the transmission network. The project is part of Sweden’s contribution to the European Ten Year Network Investment Plan (TYNDP) which aims to enhance the reliability of the grid to meet the European requirements for energy trading between countries. To control the flow of power and help Sweden meet its goals, ABB will supply a new series compensation solution in Stöde.
Sweden’s hydropower plants are mainly located in the north, while the heavier demand loads are situated in the south. This means that the generated power needs to be transferred via transmission lines sometimes covering distances as long as 1500 kilometers. As electricity demand continues to rise, so do technologies like series compensation because they can enable more power through existing lines, avoiding the high costs and loss of time required to build new lines and complex infrastructure.
Since the 1950’s the power transmission capacity of the lines between the north, the middle and the south of Sweden have been connected, as electric power generation was produced from mixed sources; hydro power from the northern part of the country and nuclear power from the middle and southern parts.
Over the years the electrical grid in Sweden has evolved significantly. New technologies and new trading possibilities require more electricity, and Sweden reached its goal of a 50 percent renewable energy usage eight years early, all of which is pushing the electrical infrastructure to its limit.
To help the utility cope with these demands, ABB is supplying a new series compensation solution in Stöde to control the amounts of power in the existing lines between the north and the south and help enhance the capacity and flexibility of grid in Sweden and to the rest of Europe.
Series compensation technologies are part of ABB’s family of Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) technologies, where ABB is a pioneer and a market leader, having delivered more than 800 FACTS installations around the world.
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