KB News Desk
Hyosung Heavy Industries said Wednesday it won an order to supply ultra-high-voltage transformers for a Brazilian hydropower plant and agreed to jointly develop grid-stabilization technology with a global hydropower plant specialist.
The South Korean company will supply six 500-kilovolt transformers to Andritz Hydro, a global hydropower equipment and services provider, for use at the Foz do Areia hydropower plant in Parana, Brazil.
Andritz Hydro accounts for more than 25 percent of Brazil’s hydropower capacity and has been a key partner to the country’s major power generators for three decades. Brazil generates more than 60 percent of its electricity from hydropower, has the world’s second-largest hydropower capacity, and is expanding power generation to meet rising demand, the company said.
The two companies also signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop a system they call “hybrid STATCOM,” or static synchronous compensator, combining Hyosung’s STATCOM technology with Andritz Hydro’s synchronous condenser.
The two are seen as complementary, with STATCOMs using power electronics to respond quickly to voltage swings while synchronous condensers use rotating machinery to provide grid inertia, particularly useful for managing renewables like wind and solar.
Hyosung and Andritz Hydro said they aim to build a long-term partnership positioning both companies as leaders in Latin America’s market for grid-stability solutions.
