Energy, Lithuania, Port, Transport

Photo: litgrid.eu

At night it was be transported through the city of Klaipeda to the village of Kikkenai where a HVDC back-to-back converter station for NordBalt is being built. The night-time hours were chosen to avoid causing inconvenience for drivers.

"These transformers are the first delivered to Klaipeda for the converter station. The intense work at the construction site of the converter station will last until the end of the next year when all large-size and technologically complex equipment will be delivered, connected and tested for its ability to interconnect the different energy systems of Lithuania and Sweden," said Karolis Sankovski, head of the Strategic Infrastructure Department of Litgrid.

The transformers with a capacity of 256 MVA will be the most powerful in Lithuania. They are one of the key elements of the NordBalt converter station and are used to change the voltage and split up direct current and alternating current.

The NordBalt transformers were manufactured by the global technology group ABB at its plant in Ludvika, Sweden. After having been successfully tested in early November, they were put into special containers for delivery to Lithuania.

The 250 km section of the NordBalt submarine cable has been laid on the bed of the Baltic Sea. The construction of the 13 km land cable going through the town of Alksnyne, under the Curonian Spit and the industrial part of Klaipeda to the Klaipeda transformer substation was finished in November.

The 450 km NordBalt power interconnection should start operating at the end of 2015. With a capacity of 700 MW, it will enable electricity exchange between Lithuania and Sweden in both directions.