REMINDER: The History of High Voltage Direct Current Transmission - 17th June 2010
The 2010 Engineering Heritage Victoria Guest Speaker Series
Thursday 17 June 2010
5:30 for 6:00pm to approx. 7:15pm
John Connell Auditorium,
Engineering House, 21 Bedford Street, North Melbourne
The Subject:
Transmission of electricity by High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) has provided the electric power industry with a powerful tool to move huge quantities of electrical energy over long distances and also to greatly expand the capacity to transmit electricity by undersea cables.
The first such scheme connected the island of Gotland off the Swedish mainland in 1954. This scheme initially transmitted 20 MW at 100 kilovolts (kV) over a distance of 298 km of overhead line and undersea cable. The project used mercury arc valve technology.
During the next 54 years great advances have been made. Schemes currently in construction in China and India will each transmit in excess of 6000 MW over 2000 km at 800 kV. The longest undersea cable in service is 580 km whilst a 700 km undersea cable is being constructed.
Because of the rapid development of HVDC technology many of the early schemes have already been decommissioned, making the story of this specialist area more urgent from an engineering heritage perspective. There is a serious risk that most of the remaining equipment from the mercury arc valve era will be lost.
The presentation will include a comprehensive but straightforward module on “How HVDC Works”
The Speaker:
Owen Peake is an electrical engineer who has spent his working life in the utility industries. He is now retired and engaged full time in engineering heritage work. His positions include Chair of the National Board of Engineering Heritage Australia, member of the committee of Engineering Heritage Victoria and Australasian Editor for the International Stationary Steam Engine Society.
