For the private investor Adani Power Limited (APL) Siemens Energy is to install a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission system with a capacity of 2,500 megawatts (MW) in India. The order is worth about €210 million. Starting in February 2011, the HVDC system is scheduled to provide low-loss transmission of electrical energy over a distance of approximately 960 kilometers from a coal-fired power plant near the port city of Mundra on India’s west coast to the industrial regions of the state of Haryana in the vicinity of New Delhi. Adani Power will not only operate the HVDC system; the private investor is also owner of the coal-fired power plant near Mundra.
Adani is also India’s major importer of coal and operates the world’s largest harbor terminal for imported coal. At the same time the Ahmedabad-based company is India’s largest private energy trader. Adani’s coal-fired power plant in Mundra is in the future to supply urgently required electrical energy to the Haryana industrial region near New Delhi, which is located approximately one thousand kilometers away. Low-loss transmission over that distance is only possible with the planned HVDC system. Siemens will assume overall responsibility for the project, including design of the entire HVDC system, and will supply core components. “This project marks a further milestone in the expansion of our HVDC competence in India“, said Dr. Udo Niehage, CEO of the Power Transmission Division of Siemens Energy.
This is the third HVDC system to be installed by Siemens in India, including the presently second longest of the world. HVDC systems for low-loss transmission of large quantities of power over long distances are part of Siemens environmental portfolio, with which the company posted revenue totaling almost EUR19 billion in fiscal 2008. That is equivalent to approximately a quarter of Siemens total revenue.