FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Hitachi Energy, a Swiss-based supplier of power technology and electrification, said on Friday it has signed contracts worth more than $2 billion with German grid operator Amprion for four converter stations.
The stations for the high-voltage grid operator’s Korridor B project contribute to Germany’s energy transition, which requires the upgrading and building of power lines to prepare them for linking thousands of wind turbines and solar panels.
Korridor B, a direct current link, will comprise of one 2 gigawatt (GW) power line to run between Heide and Polsum, and another 2 GW one from Wilhelmshaven to Hamm-Uentrop.
It will bring wind power from the North to the populous industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia by the early 2030s.
In 2023, over 10% of wind power generated in northern Germany was curtailed due to grid limitations, a flaw in the transition that new point-to-point lines will help remedy.
Hitachi Energy’s high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converters are needed to link the new infrastructure to legacy, alternating, power distribution systems.
Amprion, 25.1% owned by utility RWE, operates an 11,000 kilometre grid stretching from the North Sea to the Alps.
Hitachi Energy said it project will create 2,100 direct and indirect jobs, with 80% located in Germany.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Madeline Chambers)
