Demo 3 Special Workshop: upgrading multi-terminal HVDC interconnectors

Terna, the Italian transmission system operator, announced on 18 April 2018 that it was organising the third special workshop of the EU-funded BEST PATHS project, devoted to new technology for upgrading multi-terminal HVDC links.

The innovations came from Demonstration 3, where the partners had chosen the HVDC network connecting Sardinia, Corsica and mainland Italy, known as SACOI, as the laboratory for testing them. Among them were:

• new voltage source converters (VSC) with advanced control functions;
• innovative HVDC converters;
• improved extruded HVDC submarine and land cables for very high voltages;
• innovative insulators for HVDC and DC overhead lines.

The programme closed with a visit to Terna’s station at Codrongianos, described as one of the most technologically advanced electrical stations in Europe, where participants could watch live demonstrations of the new HVDC technology. Gianluigi Gemelli and Antonio Iliceto of Terna were named as the contacts for the event, which took place on 9 May 2018; its programme is kept on the workshop page.

SACOI itself, a 385 km line-commutated link rated at 300 MW and 200 kV, has run since 1967 and has its own SACOI page; the successor now being built is listed as SACOI 3.