View source for Milestone-Proposal:Eel River Back-to-Back High Voltage Direct Current Converter Station, 1972

{{Proposal|docketid=2009-07|a1=Eel River Back-to-Back High Voltage Direct Current Converter Station, 1972|a2a=Eel River is located in Northern New Brunswick, Canada|a2b=IEEE Region 7, New Brunswick Section.|a3=Canadian General Electric and NB Power commissioned Eel River HVDC in 1972*.|a4=Eel River back-to-back High Voltage Direct Current converter station,
the first in the world to be completely solid state.  The station is a
320Mega Watt facility, comprised of two poles of 80kVolt 2000-Ampere
Direct Current. Both the New Brunswick and Hydro Quebec sides of the
station operate at 230kVolt 3 phase Alternating Current.
Technologically, new high current silicon solid state thyristors
were coming into use and Canadian General Electric and NB Power entered
an agreement to enable a demonstration plant to prove the technology.  
Today, a third of a century later, the plant is still in service and NB
Power is considering upgrades.
Politically or socially, Hydro Quebec had just built some massive
hydroelectric power stations at Churchill Falls, Manicouagan and
LaGrande.  A block of energy would be available for a number of years.  
NB Power capitalized on this situation. It resulted in NB Power
customers having lower electricity rates for many years. Hydro Quebec
has since become a major exporter of energy and has installed a number
of HVDC stations. However, Eel River was the first HVDC interconnection
between Hydro Quebec and a neighbouring utility.
On a reliability basis, New Brunswick with its 2000 MW power system
could not be attached directly to the Hydro Quebec system because we
were already tied to the North American Eastern Interconnection of some
200,000MW.  Minor disturbances would have disrupted the New Brunswick
system, thus affecting NB Power customers.   HVDC allowed the power to
be imported |a5=In previous HVDC projects, be it back to back or DC Transmission
lines, the converters and inverters were constructed with vacuum tube
technology known as mercury arc valves.  These were prone to re-strikes,
which deteriorated the transient performance of the facilities.  The
Nelson River project (recent milestone for 900 km HVDC transmission
system) retrofitted thyristors to half of their bridges, which enabled
the technology to be proven and pave the road for the Eel River Project
shortly after.  A converter has the Alternating Current connection at
its input and the Direct current at its output.  An inverter is the
opposite.  A converter / inverter constitutes a DC Link.  If the
distance is long, we call it a DC Transmission Line.  If the distance is
short like at Eel River (some 30' of 2000 Ampere bus), then it is a
back-to-back HVDC station.|a6=The major technical obstacle was to obtain acceptable transient
performance during disturbances.  Having enough voltage support was also
the challenge, and required three rotary synchronous converters and
nearby 112 MVA Dalhousie Plant to maintain voltage and give the
electronic station some inertia.  Control systems included a governing
function and a stabilizing function, both based on the judiciously
weighted frequency difference of both systems.|a7=If successful in receiving this acknowledgment, NB Power would
organize a celebration event in conjunction with Engineering Week, which
is held annually in February.  We would propose an event be held at the
University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, along with representatives
from the IEEE, and IEEE NB Section.  In addition, we would invite key
stakeholders and the media to attend.  After the plaque is received, it
would be displayed in the main lobby of our Dalhousie Generating
Station, where it would be visible to employees and visitors for viewing.|a8=Yes|a9=Original buildings are in existence, inside a High Voltage
Transmission Terminal yard.  More exposure to the plaque would be
possible at the nearby Dalhousie Generating Station.
The Eel River HVDC facility is a secured operational facility
unavailable to the public.   Dalhousie Generating Station, which is
located nearby and has an office area and a large vestibule, accessible
to the public.|a10=NB Power Transmission Corporation|a11=Yes|a12=IEEE New Brunswick Section in a meeting 2007OCT19 has agreed to
sponsor the Milestone nomination and support this proposal.|a13name=Gerhard Dueck|a13section=Region 7 New Brunswick Section|a13position=Section Chair|a13email=GDueck@unb.ca|a14name=Gerhard Dueck|a14ou=Region 7 New Brunswick Section|a14position=Section Chair|a14email=GDueck@unb.ca|a15Aname=Elmer Bourque|a15Aemail=ElmerBourque@ieee.org|a15Aname2=Gerhard Dueck|a15Aemail2=GDueck@unb.ca|a15Bname=Marianne Limpert|a15Bemail=MLimpert@NBPower.com|a15Bname2=Heather MacLean|a15Bemail2=HeMaclean@nbpower.com|a15Cname=Elmer Bourque|a15Ctitle=Senior Engineer System Performance (Retired 2005)|a15Corg=NB Power Transmission Corporation|a15Caddress=141 Rookwood Ave.,Fredericton, NB, Canada, E3B 2L9|a15Cphone=506-455-2327|a15Cemail=ElmerBourque@ieee.org}}