GE to provide HVDC converter stations for 4-GW wind line

General Electric (NYSE:GE) will be the exclusive provider of HVDC converter stations for a 4-GW power transmission project in the US that will carry wind power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to customers across the southeastern part of the country.

GE Energy Connections and Clean Line Energy, the developer of the USD-2.5-billion (EUR 2.3bn) transmission project, announced the agreement on Tuesday.

The Plains & Eastern Clean Line will be the first overhead high voltage direct current (HVDC) project in the US in more than 20 years, the companies said. It was greenlit by the US Department of Energy (DoE) in March and construction is expected to start in the second half of 2017.

The project will see a 720-mile (1,159 km) transmission line transport enough energy to power more than one million homes to Arkansas, Tennessee and other states in the Mid-South and Southeast.

The agreement is also GE's first HVDC project in the US since acquiring Alstom's energy businesses in 2015.

HVDC transmission systems are the most efficient way to deliver wind power to distant end-use customers, the companies say, and more of them will be needed as the share of renewables in the energy mix grows.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.907)

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