GKK Etzenricht
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GKK Etzenricht (lang-de|GKK (Gleichstromkurzkupplung) Etzenricht) was an HVDC back-to-back facility near Etzenricht in the district of Neustadt in Bavaria, Germany. It was operated by Bayernwerk AG (now E.ON AG) from 1993 to 1995 for the coupling of the German and Czech electricity grids.
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[edit] History
| 26 April 1991 | Construction started |
| September 1991 | Building complete |
| May 1992 | First power |
| 27 January 1993 | Start trial operation |
| 9 July 1993 | Official opening |
| 18 October 1995 | Shutdown after synchronisation of the German and the Czech Power Grid |
The facility is not operating. It is planned to be sold in order to allow an energy exchange to Russia.
[edit] Technical featutes
GKK Etzenricht had a maximum transmission power of 600 megawatts (MW) and worked with a DC voltage of 160 kV. The two static inverters are in a 13 metres (43 ft) high hall with 430 square metres (4,630 sq ft) of surface area, which was built in a combination of local and finished concrete building method. Each static inverter consists of 432 thyristors, which are put in six thyristor towers arranged in a row. Each thyristor tower has 72 thyristors and necessary auxiliary components, such as the saturable core reactors required for the current limiting. The Siemens type U78 S346 S34 thristors used in the plant are rated 4100 amperes and at the time were the most powerful thyristors used in the world. At both ends of the hall there are three bays for the accommodation of the static inverter transformers, which are built as single-phase units.
[edit] Power transmission line to the Czech Republic
GKK Etzenricht was used in connection with the power transmission line between Germany and the Czech Republic. The 380kV power transmission line runs from the (Ex) GKK Etzenricht to the Czech substations at Hradec and Přeštice was built in 1992. For overvoltage protection, two ground conductors on a separate cross-arm are installed at the top of the tower; one conductor contains a fibre optic cable for data transmission.
This power transmission line has two circuits with a maximum power transmission capacity of 1630 MW at 380 kV. The line conductors are bundles of four conductors of steel and aluminium with a cross section of 340 mm² aluminium and 30 mm² steel for each conductor. Between Weiden and Etzenricht this line is installed on 14 pylons of the "Danube type". One of these pylons was built after the shutdown of the GKK, in order to lead the line directly - past the converter hall - into the switchyard of the substation Etzenricht.
The section between Weiden/Oberpfalz and Eslarn consists of 60 pylons with a fourth crossbar under the crossbars for the 380 kV conductors in order to carry the two 110 kV circuits of the powerline Weiden/Oberpfalz - Vohenstrauss and the two 30 kV-circuits for the powerline Vohenstrauss-Eslarn. This was made necessary because, due to environmental protection, only one right-of-way was available. Therefore the circuits of these lines, which existed in 1992 already since several years, had to be installed on the pylons of the powerline with the 380 kV-circuits to the Czech Republic. In Vohenstrauss the 110 kV-circuits run to the local substation, which is situated close to the right of way of the powerline to the Czech Republic.
Behind Vohenstrauss there are on the lowest crossbar the circuits of the 30 kV-line Vohenstrauss-Eslarn, which are mounted on insulators for 110 kV for a possible switch over to this voltage in the future. At Riedlhof this line leaves the track of the line and runs on pylons of concrete to the subsation Eslarn. From Riedlhof the 380 kV-line to the Czech Republic runs on 15 pylons of the "Danube type" to the frontier between Germany and the Czech Republic, which is crossed close northly of the border crossing of the motorway A6 near Furth in the forest.
After the frontier the construction type of pylon does not change, but their design and the type of conductors. In the Czech Republic, conductors are bundles of 3 conductors with a cross section of 450 mm² aluminium and 50 mm² steel. 31.5 kilometres behind the frontier near Stribro the line splits off in two 380kV-lines with a single circuit. One of these lines is the 97.5 kilometres (60.6 mi) long line section to Hradec in Northern Bohemia and the other is the line to Přeštice, built in 1997. Both lines are laid on pylons of Delta type.
[edit] Bibliography
- Sonderdruck aus Elektrizitätswirtschaft ( Nr. 4475),"Gleichstromkurzkupplung Etzenricht Strombrücke zwischen West und Ost" (German: {{{1}}})
