A new centre has opened in Cumbernauld that will allow the energy industry to simulate real life conditions to test and de-risk the use of high voltage direct current (HVDC) on the UK electricity network.
The National HVDC Centre – owned and operated by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) – is the first of its kind in the UK.
HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) will transform the UK transmission network over the coming years.
With the Western Link and ElecLink in construction and a number of systems planned – including Caithness-Moray, NSN, NEMO, IFA2, Shetland, Western Isles, Orkney, Eastern Link, Wylfa-Pembroke – Britain will soon have one of the most complex integrated AC/DC networks in the world.
The HVDC centre was officially opened by the Jamie Hepburn, the local MSP and the Scottish Government Minister for Employability and Training.
The National HVDC Centre has created eight new high-skilled jobs and provides an industry-wide collaborative testing facility for electricity Transmission Owners and Operators, suppliers, developers and academic institutions to simulate the use of HVDC technology on the GB electricity network.
David Gardner, SSEN Director of Transmission, said: “The HVDC Centre is going to play a crucial role in creating the electricity networks of the future. The use of HVDC technology is becoming more common, with at least four schemes due to connect to the GB network in the next few years.
“The complexity this will cause will be eased through the testing facility here in Cumbernauld as we can model the network to ensure we are ready for the adoption of the technology”.
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