GE's Grid Power Electronics Technologies Solve Complex Challenges for Customers Worldwide

As electrical transmission grid operators continue to face increasing demand and complexity given today’s global energy transition, GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business [NYSE:GE] offers unique, innovative, and industry-leading technologies. Four exciting project wins, two Static Var Compensator (SVC) and two Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) projects, have recently been awarded to GE’s Grid Solutions, reflecting customer’s confidence in GE’s Reactive Power Compensation technologies.

Today’s transmission grids are expected to carry power in ways they were never originally designed to accommodate, and GE’s patented SVC and STATCOM solutions provide efficient, dynamic solutions to the constraints faced by utility and transmission network operators worldwide.

“SVC and STATCOM technologies are designed with our customers in mind, highly reliable and easy to integrate into both existing and new infrastructures,” said Fabrice Jullien, Global FACTS Business Leader for Grid Integration Solutions, GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business. “Utility and transmission network operators recognize that these solutions are more and more required to provide dynamic voltage support while maintaining the reliability and efficiency of the power supply in the growing changing conditions of grids networks with the introduction of renewables power sources.”

Each of these exciting new projects around the globe will help provide reliable power:

• Montevideo, Uruguay: The SVC Montevideo originally was built by GEC-ALSTOM in the 1980s, and GE will upgrade and modernize this 40-year-old technology for customer Usinas y Trasmisiones Eléctricas (UTE). GE will retrofit the valves, cooling system and control system so the SVC will run efficiently and reliably for many more years.
• Jaguaruana, Ceara, Brazil: Dunas Transmissão de Energia was recently awarded a Lot of the ANEEL Transmission Auction to implement the transmission installations in the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará. Equipment for the Lot includes GE’s 500 kV SVC at -150 to +300 Mvar, which will facilitate the integration of renewable power onto the electrical grid.
• Middle East: A large transmission system operator (TSO) will improve its rapid voltage support and dynamic voltage stability in one of its operational areas within its network by using GE’s STATCOM installation. The -150 to +450 Mvar Dynamic Reactive Power Compensation (DRPC) system will be installed on a turnkey basis at an existing substation. This area is one of the fastest growing cities in the region, and this STATCOM solution will support continued load growth as their system expands with grid interconnectors and large air conditioning installations in the region.
• Fife coast, Scotland: As part of an onshore and offshore substation equipment project by GE, Grid Integration Solutions is providing the STATCOM installation that will supply -170 to +57 Mvar. Once operational, the EDF Renewables and ESB owned Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm will offset more than 400,000 tons of CO₂ emissions each year and provide enough electricity to power more than 375,000 Scottish homes.

“With these four new projects aligned with the energy transition taking place worldwide, GE reaffirms its strong position and focus in the power electronics space and more globally in FACTS. Both STATCOM and SVC are key solutions to help address our customer’s requirements to dynamically integrate renewable generation on to grid networks that were not originally designed with that in mind,” added Jullien.