Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution (PTD) and consortium partner Bharat Heavy Electricals has bagged an order worth Euros 235 million from the Power Grid Corporation of India to construct 2,500 MW high-voltage direct-current terminal stations for a 780 km long high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission route between Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Out of the total contract value Siemens portion is about Euros 170 million wherein Siemens AG's portion is about 142 million euros and Siemens PTD India will be executing a portion of the contract valued at approximately Euros 28 million (Rs.162.5 crore).

To enhance the power supply to the developing regions around New Delhi, Siemens will be providing a new HVDC transmission system for transporting the energy generated from the Barh power plant in Uttar Pradesh. This bipolar 500 kV direct-current transmission system with a power rating of 2,500 MW will transport electrical energy with low loss from the pooling station at Ballia in Uttar Pradesh to Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, covering a distance of 780 km.

Siemens scope of work includes the design of the complete HVDC transmission system. Siemens will deliver the bulk of the core components such as converter valves, converter transformers, smoothing reactors, protection and control systems, and the AC and DC filters. The company is also undertaking transport functions, construction work and the installation & start-up of the HVDC transmission system. The consortium partner BHEL is supplying converter transformers for the Bhiwadi converter station and components of the AC switchgear for both converter stations.

This is the second HVDC project that the company is implementing in India and the project will be the fourth long-distance bulk HVDC transmission link in India and the second system that Siemens is building in the country. The first high-voltage direct-current transmission route was the East-South long-distance link, which still currently ranks as the second longest HVDC transmission link in the world.