Hitachi Energy Signed contract to upgrade Al-Fadhili HVDC Station in Saudi Arabia

Hitachi Energy Signed contract to upgrade Al-Fadhili HVDC Station in Saudi Arabia

Hitachi Energy and Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) announced the signing of a contract to upgrade the Al-Fadhili high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station under the GCCIA authority in Saudi Arabia. Its mission is to create a resilient interconnected grid, ensuring power security, and economic benefits.

The Al-Fadhili converter station started its operations in 2009 as part of a project to interconnect the power grids of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Once upgraded, the Al-Fadhili station will be able to exchange up to 1,800 megawatts of electricity between these states. Additionally, the station serves a special purpose of maintaining the stability of the connected grids. This upgrade project will replace hardware and software with Hitachi Energy’s cutting-edge MACH™ control and protection system, the brain behind HVDC links.

The GCCIA allows the sharing of the operational and spinning reserve, which achieves higher efficiency in the use of operating capacities and higher efficiency in the operation of electric power production stations, leading to great improvements in the regions’ power security and reliability. Power security in the Gulf countries is especially critical due to extreme weather conditions. Furthermore, the link will allow optimization in electricity generation resulting in