Alstom will supply through-wall UHVDC bushings for the Xiluodu-Zhexi project in China

Alstom Grid has been selected by State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), one of the main Chinese electrical utilities in the country, to supply through-wall bushings¹ for the Xiluodu-Zhexi ±800 kV line. This Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) line will transport power from the Xiluodu area, in the region of Sichuan, to Zhexi, in the region of Zhejiang, for a total length of 1670.8 km.

The project is being constructed as part of the countrys UHVDC development program. By the year 2020, SGCC expects to install an additional 15 lines of increased capacity, reaching between 8 GW and 10 GW.

Under the contract, the Italian bushing unit of Milan will supply through-wall bushings for direct current application including three sets at 800 kV DC, five sets at 400 kV DC and three sets at 40 kV DC, which will together equip one converter station. The current of all the bushings is rated at 5,000 A.

Zohir Benhammou, Site Director Alstom Grid Milan, declared: "This contract opens up Alstom Grid, for the first time, to the challenging Chinese market of DC through-wall bushings. The win confirms Alstom Grid as one of the most important players in UHVDC market.

The wall bushings provided for the XiluoduZhexi project are similar to those destined for Brazils Rio Madeira HVDC project that recently successfully completed the artificial pollution tests simulating rain conditions up to three times more severe than the IEC standard.

Alstoms part in the Xiluodu Zhexi project is scheduled for delivery in August 2013.

About Alstom
Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 92,000 people in around 100 countries. It had sales of 20 billion and booked close to 22 billion in orders in 2011/12.

Alstom Grid has 130 years of expertise in electrical grids. Whether for utilities or electro-intensive industries or facilitating the trading of energy, Alstom Grid brings power to its customers projects.  Alstom Grid ranks among the top 3 in electrical transmission sector with an annual sales turnover of more than 4 billion. It has 20,000 employees and over 90 manufacturing and engineering sites worldwide. At the heart of the development of Smart Grid, Alstom Grid offers products, services and integrated energy management solutions across the full energy value chainfrom power generation, through transmission and distribution grids and to the large end user.

Alstom has been operating in Italy since 1998, and is now active in the energy production and transmission and rail transport markets through its controlled companies Alstom Power Italia S.p.A., Alstom Grid S.p.A. and Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A.. The Group, which has taken over the heritage of such historical Italian industrial names as Ercole Marelli, Fiat Ferroviaria and Passoni & Villa, has 13 sites in Italy and employs about 3,500 people. In the fiscal year 2010-2011, recorded a turnover of 1.2 billion. Using its own technologies, Alstom is actively involved in developing the countrys infrastructures and contributing to its progress.

Alstom Grid currently has around 400 employees in Italy, and a turnover of 135.5 million.

Press contact:
Daniela Pradella - Tel. + 39 02 24348.4493; Cell. +39 348 2586205
daniela.pradella@alstom.com

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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.