New Technology Could Lead To ‘Continental Supergrid’

A new type of circuit breaker developed by leading engineering group ABB could lead to the creation of a ‘continental supergrid’, allowing huge amounts of energy to be easily transported across Europe.

The new type of high voltage direct current (HVDC) circuit breaker is the first DC circuit breaker that can work fast enough for electricity to be transmitted over long distances using overland lines. As more renewable energy plants are established, the new circuit breaker could solve the problem of getting power into the main electrical grid from often remote locations.

Underwater HVDC cables are already used to connect several European grids with each other. However, long distance overland connections use alternating current (AC) cables as pre-existing DC technology doesn’t allow more than two locations to be linked in a mesh network. The new HVDC circuit breaker will enable this to happen – with potentially huge savings on cable connections as DC is more cost-effective than AC.

Wilding says: With renewable energy plants often built in such isolated areas, getting the energy into the transmission network has always been a trial. This new invention could make connections much easier in the future – as well as enabling the much-needed “continental supergrid” which will help the various European countries share their resources efficiently.’

Source: The Engineer