“An LS Cable & System employee is testing an ultra-high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable at the Gumi plant. Provided by LS Cable & System.”
On the 9th, LS Cable & System announced that it has successfully commercialized the world’s largest transmission capacity ultra-high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable and will be the sole supplier for the first phase of Korea Electric Power Corporation’s ‘East Coast-Metropolitan’ transmission network project, which is the largest HVDC project in the country.
According to LS Cable & System, this cable is a 525-kilovolt (kV) high-temperature HVDC cable that increases the permissible temperature of the conductor from 70 degrees to 90 degrees, improving transmission capacity by up to 50%. This marks the first time a 525kV class HVDC cable is being applied to an actual transmission network, and it is expected to be deployed in the underground section of the East Coast-Metropolitan HVDC Phase 1 project this coming September.
The East Coast-Metropolitan transmission network project is a national key power grid initiative aimed at efficiently delivering power generated in the East Coast area to the metropolitan region. The Phase 1 transmission network, solely supplied by LS Cable & System, covers the East Coast to the Shingapyeong substation segment, and LS Cable & System is also pursuing Phase 2 to connect to the metropolitan area.
HVDC is highlighted as a pivotal technology in the era of carbon neutrality as it has less transmission loss compared to traditional alternating current (HVAC) and can deliver up to three times more electricity over long distances. LS Cable & System predicts that the global HVDC market will grow from 1.8 trillion won in 2018 to 41 trillion won by 2030.
LS Cable & System began developing HVDC cable in 2008, which is later than Europe in the 1950s and Japan in the 1990s, but succeeded in commercializing it in just over a decade. Currently, only six companies worldwide have commercialized this technology, with LS Cable & System being the only one in South Korea.
Lee In-ho, CTO of LS Cable & System’s Technology Development Division, stated, “The competitiveness in the HVDC market depends on securing commercialization technology,” and added, “We plan to actively participate in major domestic and overseas projects such as the West Coast HVDC energy expressway, East Coast-Metropolitan Phase 2, and Germany’s TenneT project Phase 2 together with LS Marine Solutions.”