Posted on December 26, 2017
The opening event of the first electric power transmission line of 800 kV UHVDC – Ultrahigh-Voltage Direct Current – of Latin America was held in Estreito converter station in the city of Ibiraci , state of Minas Gerais. Mr. Shu Yinbiao, President of State Grid Corporation of China, was present at the event in a real-time video conference where he made a speech directly from China. Cai Hongxian, President of State Grid Brazil Holding, Fernando Coelho Filho, Minister of Mines and Energy, Moreira Franco, Minister of General Secretariat of the Presidency, Wilson Ferreira Jr., President of Eletrobras, Luiz Eduardo Barata, Electrical System National Operator Chief Executive, Li Jinzhang, China’s Ambassador in Brazil, Chang Zhongjiao, President of Belo Monte Transmissora de Energia, Ricardo Medeiros, President of Furnas and Antonio Barra, Eletronorte Economical and Financial Director among other authorities, were also present at the event.
With an investment of about R$ 5 billion, the Transmission Line ± 800 kV UHVDC Xingu-Estreito-Bipolo1 has a length of 2,076 km, starting in Pará, (PA), crossing Tocantins (TO) and Goiás (GO) until the south of Minas Gerais (MG).
The ±800 kVDC Direct Current Transmission Line (DC) Xingu-Estreito – Bipole 1, two Converting Stations AC/DC having the capacity of 4.000 MW, two earth electrodes and their respective transmission lines, with 36 km in Pará and 72 km mainly in the state of São Paulo, six telecommunications repeating stations and seven maintenance centers among other associated installations, passes through 70 municipalities.
The project, which was put into operation on December 12th, 2017, benefits 22 million people as well as reinforces and gives considerable reliability to the National Interconnected System (Sistema Interligado Nacional – SIN) being the most economical form of transmission of large amounts of energy point-to-point in large distances.