MANITOBA, CANADA – A provincial Crown Corp., Manitoba Hydro commissioned the Bipole III project, completing its third HVDC transmission line that will deliver renewable hydroelectric power produced in northern Manitoba to customers in southern Manitoba.
This 860-mile (1388 km), 500 kV HVDC transmission project took five years to construct and it was one of the largest construction projects in North America, reports T&D World.
The new line interconnects two new converter stations – the Keewatinohk converter station located on Fox Lake traditional territory, northwest of the town of Gillam in northern Manitoba, and the Riel converter station, just east of Winnipeg.
The design and construction of the converter equipment was completed by the consortium of Siemens Canada Ltd. and Mortenson Construction.
With temperatures in Manitoba nearing 40°C (100°F) summertime and going as low as -50°C (-58°F) in winter, all equipment used within the converter stations had to meet these challenging temperature extremes, including the large HVDC converter transformers, which were manufactured and delivered from Germany.
Source: T&D World