Hyosung Heavy Industries, the power equipment and grid infrastructure division of South Korean conglomerate Hyosung Group, has established a facility to assess the performance of its 2-gigawatt high-voltage direct current (HVDC) controller, signifying a first for Korea utilizing domestic technology, the company announced.
The hardware-in-the-loop simulation system, newly set up at the company's research facility in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, connects a real HVDC controller to a simulated 2-gigawatt converter valve and power grid. This allows engineers to evaluate the controller's performance in situations similar to those of an actual grid, according to the company.
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HVDC technology transforms alternating current into direct current to transmit substantial quantities of electricity across extended distances with reduced power loss.
According to the company, a 2-gigawatt system needs two to three times more test scenarios, like grid faults and emergencies, compared to a 200-megawatt system. The simulator is capable of recreating dangerous scenarios that are challenging to test on an active grid and can execute them repeatedly over extended durations, it states.
Hyosung stated it relied on expertise from a 200-megawatt voltage-source HVDC system it created and has been managing since 2024 at Yangju Substation, located north of Seoul. The firm started to create the technology through a 20-megawatt demo project on Jeju Island in 2012.
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A limited number of global firms has been at the forefront of high-capacity voltage-source HVDC, it reported. In September, Hyosung was chosen to take part in the valve and controller sector of a Korea Electric Power Corp. initiative to localize and showcase the technology.
The firm stated it intends to utilize the facility to enhance the reliability of its gigawatt-class system while it aims to develop the West Coast Energy Highway, a government-supported initiative to construct HVDC lines along the western coast of the nation.
Recently, Hyosung Heavy Industries began broadening its manufacturing presence in the US with a new joint venture aimed at producing high-voltage circuit breakers in Pennsylvania. The company announced on June 16 that its subsidiary, Hyosung HICO, entered into an agreement with a subsidiary of Quanta Services to create Hyosung Hico Breaker, a joint venture focused on gas circuit breakers.
The joint venture, created in July, will start producing high-voltage circuit breakers between 72.5 kilovolts and 800 kilovolts as soon as October. Manufacturing will occur at Quanta's current facility located in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. The collaboration merges Hyosung's expertise in power equipment with Quanta's infrastructure skills as the Korean firm grows its footprint in the U.S. power sector.
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The partnership will position Hyosung Heavy Industries as the first Korean producer of power equipment to set up production of transformers and high-voltage circuit breakers in the US. Hyosung Heavy Industries' ultra-high-voltage transformer facility in Memphis, Tennessee, has emerged as a vital component of its US operations. The organization has poured about $300 million into the facility, which covers its purchase and current growth. After the ongoing expansion is finished, the facility is predicted to possess one of the highest transformer manufacturing capacities in the US.