ABB has rolled out a renewable energy transmission project in Texas. Company had developed a Station Service Voltage Transformers for a couple of Texas-based utilities regarding this project.
These utilities, a subproject of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) project, will be utilized to direct the wind energy generated at remote wind farms to high populated areas in Texas.
CREZ was started for transmission of about 18,500 megawatts of wind power from farms in West Texas and Texas Panhandle to distant localities like Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.
ABB’s transformers emerged as a single-unit solution enabling a reliable transmission of power from high-voltage to low-voltage lines.
These transformers will be directly connected to the high-voltage transmission grid. They are designed in such a way that they can be installed within a substation enabling a complete supply control to the utilities. Moreover, this design also optimizes the space usage, needed for the utilities.
ABB has installed around 30 such units, each with a capacity of 362KV. The transformers have reduced the requirement by as much as 900 miles of distribution lines. As the power is now obtained directly from the transmission line, this is expected to result in a savings of $30 million for the project. These transformers comply with CREZ’s clean energy standards.
The company has developed this unique solution to overcome challenges like remoteness of the wind farm and inconsistency of wind power which posed threats to the substation operation.
Moreover, ABB’s transformers reduced the costs of the utilities by as much as 2–3 percent of the total project investment. The large distance between the wind farms and the targeted areas, conventional power transformers, diesel generator and distribution networks totaled huge expense.