The rods and stilts are the volt\u00adage dividers. And the things that look like feel\u00aders? Those are bush\u00adings. They all come togeth\u00ader to form what is prob\u00ada\u00adbly the world\u2019s most pow\u00ader\u00adful high-volt\u00adage test sys\u00adtem. Oper\u00adating with 700 mega\u00advolt-amperes, it is able to test the entire\u00adty of a 55-kilo\u00adme\u00adter cable sys\u00adtem for defects in the insu\u00adla\u00adtion and cou\u00adpling sleeves at 318 kilo\u00advolts. Before it came on the scene, cable sys\u00adtems of this length had to be test\u00aded in indi\u00advid\u00adual sec\u00adtions. The loca\u00adtion for this tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal mas\u00adter\u00adpiece is the plant of a sub\u00adma\u00adrine cable man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00ader on the Isth\u00admus of Corinth in Greece. Just a short walk from the quay\u00adside there, coils of sub\u00adma\u00adrine cables are test\u00aded on enor\u00admous turnta\u00adbles before being loaded on to spe\u00adcial ships bound for projects under\u00adtak\u00aden by cus\u00adtomers all over the world. HIGHVOLT, a mem\u00adber of the Rein\u00adhausen Group, was respon\u00adsi\u00adble for con\u00adstruct\u00ading the facil\u00adi\u00adty. The Dres\u00adden-based com\u00adpa\u00adny spe\u00adcial\u00adizes in test sys\u00adtems designed for high-volt\u00adage and extra-high-volt\u00adage applications\u2014making it a busi\u00adness whose bread and but\u00adter are extreme con\u00addi\u00adtions.<\/p>\n But even this facil\u00adi\u00adty proved a chal\u00adlenge for HIGHVOLT\u2019s engi\u00adneers. G\u00fcn\u00adther Siebert, head of the trans\u00adformer team, explains: \u201cThe longer a cable or a cable sys\u00adtem is, the high\u00ader the pow\u00ader deliv\u00adered by the test sys\u00adtem has to be. For a length of 55 kilo\u00adme\u00adters, we would have had to install prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly an aver\u00adage-sized pow\u00ader plant next to the equip\u00adment in order to achieve the lev\u00adel of test pow\u00ader need\u00aded. So we knew we had to find a dif\u00adfer\u00adent solu\u00adtion.\u201d<\/p>\n The Greek cable man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00ader in this appli\u00adca\u00adtion is not the only one to have faced this chal\u00adlenge. All over the world, but espe\u00adcial\u00adly in Europe, the dis\u00adtances that pow\u00ader is being required to cov\u00ader are grow\u00ading, which means that more and more AC and DC volt\u00adage cables are being installed under the sea or buried below ground lev\u00adel. This is hap\u00adpen\u00ading in response to our plan\u00adet becom\u00ading an increas\u00ading\u00adly elec\u00adtri\u00adfied place. A study by the World Ener\u00adgy Coun\u00adcil has found that the demand for pow\u00ader in 2060 could actu\u00adal\u00adly be twice as high as it is today. Renew\u00adable sources of ener\u00adgy are there\u00adfore becom\u00ading an increas\u00ading\u00adly impor\u00adtant way of feed\u00ading this appetite for ener\u00adgy while look\u00ading out for envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal con\u00adcerns.<\/p>\n One exam\u00adple demon\u00adstrat\u00ading this is the Euro\u00adpean Union\u2019s goal of boost\u00ading the pro\u00adpor\u00adtion of ener\u00adgy drawn from envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly con\u00adscious resources to at least 32 per\u00adcent by 2030. Achiev\u00ading this will require sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant net\u00adwork expan\u00adsion, how\u00adev\u00ader, as most ener\u00adgy sources are locat\u00aded far away from conurbations\u2014take the off\u00adshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea, for exam\u00adple, or Norway\u2019s hydro\u00adelec\u00adtric pow\u00ader plants, or the solar farms that are cur\u00adrent\u00adly being planned for instal\u00adla\u00adtion in the Sahara. To accom\u00admo\u00addate this, numer\u00adous elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty lines that cross seas and con\u00adnect net\u00adworks are either on the agen\u00adda or are already being built.<\/p>\n This soon prompt\u00aded addi\u00adtion\u00adal tri\u00adals of the tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, lead\u00ading to suc\u00adcess\u00adful advance\u00adments in the cabling used in the world\u2019s oceans (then pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly intend\u00aded for com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion).<\/p>\n Around 100 years lat\u00ader, in 1954, the first high-volt\u00adage direct-cur\u00adrent (HVDC) trans\u00admis\u00adsion cable was installed under the sea between the Swedish island of Got\u00adland and the country\u2019s main\u00adland.<\/p>\n Mea\u00adsur\u00ading 90 kilo\u00adme\u00adters in length, it boast\u00aded a trans\u00admis\u00adsion volt\u00adage of 100 kilo\u00advolts and a capac\u00adi\u00adty of 20 megawatts. Since then, the trans\u00admis\u00adsion volt\u00adage of sub\u00adma\u00adrine cables has con\u00adtin\u00adued to grow and now reach\u00ades some 525 kilo\u00advolts of DC volt\u00adage and 500 kilo\u00advolts of AC volt\u00adage. A total of 8,000 kilo\u00adme\u00adters have been installed under seas and oceans world\u00adwide over the same peri\u00adod \u2013 70 per\u00adcent of them in Europe. This is also where the major\u00adi\u00adty of new projects are cur\u00adrent\u00adly being planned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It is only with\u00adin the past few years, how\u00adev\u00ader, that the con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable advances made in cable tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy have made these projects viable at all. Since they began, AC and DC trans\u00admis\u00adsion volt\u00adages mea\u00adsur\u00ading up to 500 kilo\u00advolts and 525 kilo\u00advolts respec\u00adtive\u00adly have become attain\u00adable, and new mate\u00adri\u00adals plus new types of pro\u00adduc\u00adtion tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy now enable man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00aders to con\u00adstruct lengths of up to 15 kilo\u00adme\u00adters.<\/p>\n This increase means that few\u00ader sleeves are required to con\u00adnect the indi\u00advid\u00adual sec\u00adtions of cable \u2014 a real bonus con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading that around 50 per\u00adcent of fail\u00adures are attrib\u00adut\u00adable to incor\u00adrect\u00adly installed or defec\u00adtive sleeves, mak\u00ading every one of them a poten\u00adtial source of weak\u00adness. If a sleeve were to break and cause the entire net\u00adwork to col\u00adlapse sud\u00adden\u00adly, the con\u00adse\u00adquences could be dire.<\/p>\n This is pre\u00adcise\u00adly the sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion that the Greek man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00ader is seek\u00ading to avoid. For this rea\u00adson, it has to test its cables for any poten\u00adtial defects before send\u00ading them off on their jour\u00adneys. Its pre\u00advi\u00adous sys\u00adtem was no longer up to the job, and this was where HIGHVOLT stepped in with an upgrade. As G\u00fcn\u00adther Siebert explains, the new sys\u00adtem works in much the same way as the old one did: \u201cPow\u00ader fre\u00adquen\u00adcy with\u00adstand volt\u00adage test\u00ading, based on the res\u00ado\u00adnance prin\u00adci\u00adple and com\u00adbined with par\u00adtial dis\u00adcharge meas\u00adurement, has proven itself to be an appro\u00adpri\u00adate method of test\u00ading both AC and DC cables.\u201d<\/p>\n When HIGHVOLT knew that it had to make sure this same method would work for longer cables too, it turned to larg\u00ader reac\u00adtors for the solu\u00adtion. It is imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly obvi\u00adous from the Greek facility\u2019s appear\u00adance just how large they actu\u00adal\u00adly are: At 4.5 meters wide, 3.5 meters high, 4 meters long, and weigh\u00ading some 50 tons, they are approx\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly twice the size of their small\u00ader coun\u00adter\u00adparts. \u201cAt this size, our XXL reac\u00adtors can still be trans\u00adport\u00aded by land\u2014although only just\u2014and it takes hard\u00adly any time at all for them to get up and run\u00adning,\u201d says Siebert.<\/p>\n In a res\u00ado\u00adnance test cir\u00adcuit, reac\u00adtors serve as the oppo\u00adsite num\u00adber to the capac\u00adi\u00adtive test object, which in this appli\u00adca\u00adtion is the cable. Put sim\u00adply, the longer the cable, the high\u00ader the required capacity\u2014and the high\u00ader the reac\u00adtor pow\u00ader need\u00aded as a result. While sev\u00ader\u00adal XXL reac\u00adtors could be com\u00adbined using series or par\u00adal\u00adlel con\u00adnec\u00adtions in order to boost the pow\u00ader, this would not have made much sense with the pre\u00advi\u00adous type. \u201cThe XXL reac\u00adtors are only twice as heavy as the old ones, but they are four times as pow\u00ader\u00adful,\u201d says Siebert.<\/p>\n While one of the old reac\u00adtors was able to deliv\u00ader 30 MVA of pow\u00ader, the new ones achieve some 115 MVA\u2014so just four reac\u00adtors are now enough to meet the Greek cable manufacturer\u2019s require\u00adments, in con\u00adtrast to the 16 small\u00ader ones that it would have need\u00ad- \u201cThe new XXL reac\u00adtors are four times more pow\u00ader\u00adful than the pre\u00advi\u00adous ones, but only twice the size.\u201dG\u00fcn\u00adther Siebert, head of the trans\u00adformer team at HIGHVOLT<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As an added bonus that has giv\u00aden the test pow\u00ader even more of a boost, the XXL reac\u00adtors have been dimen\u00adsioned for a fre\u00adquen\u00adcy range of 10 to 300 hertz\u2014previously, this range had start\u00aded at 20 hertz. \u201cThe low\u00ader the test fre\u00adquen\u00adcy, the low\u00ader the test cur\u00adrent that needs to flow into the cable. This means that it is pos\u00adsi\u00adble to test longer stretch\u00ades of cable with\u00adout the need for any changes in the test volt\u00adage,\u201d explains Siebert.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s just the start. The poten\u00adtial that these XXL reac\u00adtors hold is far from exhaust\u00aded thanks to a mod\u00adu\u00adlar facil\u00adi\u00adty struc\u00adture that will allow expan\u00adsions to be made in the future. \u201cWe can com\u00adbine as many as 16 reac\u00adtors in a sin\u00adgle test sys\u00adtem, which in the\u00ado\u00adry means that it could be pos\u00adsi\u00adble to test cables meas\u00aduring as much as 200 kilo\u00adme\u00adters in length,\u201d says Siebert\u2014the only obsta\u00adcle being that there are, as yet, no ships large enough to car\u00adry a cable of this size in one piece. For the moment, one thing is cer\u00adtain: With demand for elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty grow\u00ading all the time, these cable projects still have a lot of mileage left in them.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/onload.reinhausen.com\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2019\/07\/Fulgor_Onload_EDIT_COL_02GW_Text.jpg\")
A NEW ERA IN ENERGY<\/h2>\n
Cabling Around the World<\/h5>\n
![](\"https:\/\/onload.reinhausen.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/26\/2019\/07\/Karte-Europa-Seekabel-EN.jpg\")
The his\u00adto\u00adry of sub\u00adma\u00adrine cabling had some\u00adthing of a shaky start. The very first cable laid under the sea was only able to trans\u00admit a sin\u00adgle telegram, and on 29 August 1850 \u2013 just one day after the con\u00adnec\u00adtion between France and the Unit\u00aded King\u00addom had been estab\u00adlished \u2013 the net of a fish\u00ading boat man\u00adaged to sev\u00ader the line.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/onload.reinhausen.com\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2019\/07\/Verlegeschiff-Kabel.jpg\")
The Solution: XXL Reactors<\/h2>\n
\ned pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly. What\u2019s more, the four larg\u00ader reac\u00adtors have the advan\u00adtage of requir\u00ading only 120 square meters of space as opposed to the 620 square meters that would have been tak\u00aden up by the 16 small\u00ader ones.<\/p>\n
\nYOUR CONTACT<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/onload.reinhausen.com\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2019\/07\/Siebert-HIGHVOLT.jpg\")