ABB Wins US$ 360-Million Order for Chinese Power Link; Technology Group to Build High-Voltage Power System.

Business and Technology Editors

ZURICH, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 2001

ABB, the global power and automation technology group, has won a US$ 360-million order to build a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission system linking hydropower plants in central China to Guangdong province.

Under the terms of the contract awarded by the State Power Corporation of China, ABB will design and build a 3,000-megawatt link delivering power to the industrial region of Guangdong 940 kilometers away.

"This is our second major order in China in two years, and further evidence of ABB's desire to support Chinese economic development by offering advanced technological solutions, and by working directly with Chinese partners in the utility and equipment manufacturing industry," said ABB's president and CEO, Jorgen Centerman. "Our strong presence in this growing local market now includes 27 companies and 6,000 employees."

The two-stage project will be delivered in 32 months, cutting the normal timetable for a project this size by 30 percent. ABB is already supplying converter stations for an 890-kilometer HVDC power link between the Three Gorges power plant and Shanghai.

ABB pioneered HVDC transmission technology, which is an efficient and cost effective way of moving electricity over long distances. An HVDC system converts alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) and transmits it to a distant location, where it is converted back to AC and distributed to consumers.

The order includes two power converter stations, 28 power transformers and six smoothing reactors to reduce current fluctuations in the system. Equipment will be supplied by ABB's transformer factory in Ludvika, Sweden, and the Chinese state-owned Xi'an transformer works, an ABB licensee.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering their environmental impact. ABB has 160,000 employees in more than 100 countries.