Alstoms UHVDC wall bushings successfully pass electrical, pollution and wet tests

Alstom Grid has achieved a world first, having successfully completed the artificial pollution tests for its 612 kV wall bushings¹ produced in Milan, destined for Brazils Rio Madeira HVDC project. The tests were concluded in Graz Independent Laboratory in Austria and CEPEL independent laboratory Brazil.

The type tests were performed in Austria, while artificial pollution tests and wet tests were carried out in the Brazilian laboratory. Performed in a salt fog chamber, these tests are required to verify the combined effect of rain on a polluted insulator, and prevent severe problems for HVDC wall bushings. The pollution tests were completed at a salinity level of 80 kg/m3, simulating rain conditions up to three times more severe than the IEC standard.

The Rio Madeira project, currently under development, will be the longest Direct Current transmission line in the world (2,375 km) capable of transmitting 6300 MW from the central Amazon Region to São Paulo, one of the most populated areas in Brazil. It was commissioned to Alstom in 2011 by the IE Madeira consortium (consisting of three of the largest energy providers in Brazil), for a total value of
$ 400 million.

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¹ Bushings are devices that allow high voltage conductors to pass through the earthed walls of transformers, switchgear and substation structures. It helps facilitate the electric stress control of the equipment. A wall bushing is a bushing whose application in a substation is to let a high voltage cable pass through the wall of a substation.

Contatto stampa

Daniela Pradella

Alstom Italia

Ph. +39 02 24348 4493 - Mob. +39 348 2586205

daniela.pradella@alstom.com