Power & Industrial Systems PG Targets Next-Generation Power Grid Market with Localization of HVDC Technology

Power & Industrial Systems PG is localizing voltage-source HVDC technology, which was successfully commercialized in 2010 even by global advanced heavy electric machine companies. Voltage-source HVDC technology is considered a core technology for next-generation power grid business. The localization effect is expected to be KRW 1 billion by 2020, and the global HVDC market size will increase to KRW 70 billion. Our company was selected as the developer of the national assignment ‘offshore wind energy connected 20mW voltage-source HVDC connection technology development’ of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, and will give official status to HVDC technology development and complete the development by the end of 2016. HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) is the core technology of the next-generation power grid, using a power rectifier to convert high-voltage ‘alternating current (AC)’ generated in a power plant with an extra-high voltage DC transmission system into high-efficiency ‘direct current (DC)’. DC transmission has less power loss than that for AC, which is beneficial in high-capacity or long-distance transmission. Voltage-source HVDC technology enables real-time duplex transmission, auto-maneuvering in a blackout, and installation area reduction compared to current source HVDC, making it absolutely necessary in extending supply of new renewable energy such as offshore wind power. With these advantages, voltage-source HVDC is considered as a technology that will lead the next-generation power grid business.

Our company developed our own technology STATCOM (equipment supplementing voltage lost in transmission and distribution, and increasing stability of power transportation), which is similar to voltage-source HVDC technology; and we are also about to develop a 5mW offshore wind power generation system as a pioneer in the Korean wind power business. Due to the fact that it can be connected to HVDC technology in the future, our company was selected as Korea’s first developer of voltage-source HVDC technology.

In Korea, construction of a large-scale offshore wind power generation system complex is being promoted at the southwestern coast and Jeju, but Korea is depending wholly on imports due to a lack of related technologies of Korean heavy electric machine companies. If our company succeeds in this development, localization of HVDC technology currently depending on imports will be possible, expecting an import substitution effect of over KRW 1 billion by 2020. Moreover, it will be possible to provide a total solution if linked to the 5mW offshore wind power generation system currently in development as a national assignment.