ABB, the power and automation technology group, has won orders worth about $19 million from Suzlon, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of wind turbines for substation solutions to serve wind farms installed in the states of Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
ABB will design, supply and install two 230 kV (kilovolt) main substations and 104 unitary 36 kV Compact Secondary Substations (CSS). Each wind turbine will be fitted with a fully automated unitary substation enabling real-time tracking and operation from a monitoring center in Fortaleza, and maximizing availability of the wind farms. Key equipment to be supplied with this order includes low-loss distribution transformers and a range of medium voltage switchgear.
“Integrating renewable energy sources to the grid not only helps to meet the growing need for electricity but also addresses environmental concerns,” said Oleg Aleinikov, head of ABB's substations business, a part of the company’s Power Systems division. “ABB has the technologies, domain competence and experience to support customers like Suzlon in achieving these goals.”
ABB provides a wide range of products, integrated solutions and expertise that enable the efficient generation of wind power and its smooth integration into the grid. Customers include turbine manufacturers, engineering contractors, independent power producers and utilities.
Substations are key installations in the power grid. They transform voltage levels and facilitate the efficient transmission and distribution of electricity. They include equipment that protects and controls the flow of electrical power. ABB is the world’s leading supplier of air- and gas-insulated substations, with a vast global installed base covering a range of voltage levels up to 1,100 kV.