ABB awarded $41 million

said today that it has won a $41 million order in

for extra-high-voltage transformers and shunt reactors, which will strengthen the country’s power network and help meet the growing demand for electricity.

ABB is supplying the 765 kV auto-transformers and reactors to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), representing the largest bank of transformers ever installed in the country.

ABB will supply ten 500 MVA, 765/400/33 kV auto-transformers and ten 80 MVA, 765 kV shunt reactors. The equipment will be ready for commissioning in 22 months.

The transformers and reactors will be installed at Seoni substation in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in order to transmit power from the new 3,000 MW Sipat power plant being set up in the neighbouring state of Chattisgarh. ABB received another, similar order valued at $38 million early in 2005 from the National Thermal Power Corporation for transformers for the Sipat plant.

India’s transmission system currently operates mainly at 400 kV levels. It is in the process of developing extra-high voltage capabilities at 765 kV, in order to strengthen the power network, increase grid reliability and help meet growing power demand.