GE’s Grid Solutions business was awarded a contract to perform key upgrades on Hydro Quebec’s Montagnais substation’s protection and control systems.
At the end of 2018, GE successfully completed upgrades to three 765 kV Fixed Series Compensation (FSC) banks at Hydro Quebec’s Montagnais substation. This project demonstrates GE’s ability to upgrade FSC banks of other suppliers to its industry leading design.
The electrical power transmission system serving much of eastern Canada and northern New England poses unique challenges to the region’s utilities. Much of eastern Canada’s transmission infrastructure is in remote locations, some of which are completely inaccessible except by rail or air. Hydro Quebec’s Montagnais site is one such facility. GE’s FSC technology installed at the Montagnais substation will maintain power transfer capacity, load division, and system stability.
FSC systems make transmission lines function as if they were physically shorter, which helps utilities move power across great distances in a more efficient manner. As utilities recognize this value, an increasing number of them are upgrading their systems to GE’s FSC technology.
GE technicians and engineers faced the challenge of fitting GE’s industry-leading FSC technology into a system originally designed by another company. Using an existing protection apparatus from the original project, GE brought three 765kV FSC banks online at the Hydro Quebec Montagnais site before the end of 2018.
“Utilities around the world are continuously looking for ways to improve capacity and efficiency while also keeping up with the challenges of modern transmission systems. The HQ Montagnais FSC upgrade is yet another successful example of GE’s innovative grid solutions technology,” said John Kern, Global Operations Manager for GE’s Grid Solutions Fixed Series Compensation Solutions.
For generations, engineers at GE have designed series compensation projects that deliver superior performance. Most recently, the industry-leading grid services company developed improved polymer-housed metal-oxide varistors (MOVs) that increase performance and reduce costs of running FSC systems.
FSC technology is advancing, and GE has provided over 40,000 Mvars of series compensation systems for electrical utilities in the past six years alone. By capturing the competitive advantages of GE’s cutting-edge grid protection and control technologies, utilities around the world are improving service while bolstering their bottom lines.
About GE’s Grid Solutions:
Grid Solutions, a GE Renewable Energy business, serves customers globally with over 17,000 employees in approximately 80 countries. Grid Solutions helps enable utilities and industry to effectively manage electricity from the point of generation to the point of consumption, helping to maximize the reliability, efficiency and resilience of the grid. For more about GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business, visit www.gegridsolutions.com
