Areva wins contract to interconnect Chinese, Russian power grids

Areva said its Transmission and Distribution (T&D) division has signed a 'multi-million euro' contract to supply H400 High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) thyristor valves to interconnect China's power grid with that of Russia.

The French group said the contract was the first of its kind awarded to Areva T&D in China and was signed with the Xuji Group Corporation and China Electric Power Research Institute on behalf of the end customer, State Grid of China Corporation.

Areva said the valves will be installed in the Sino-Russian converter station located in China's Heilongjiang province. To overcome the countries' grid incompatibility, the station will convert alternate current into direct current and inversely, the company explained.