GK Wien-Southeast

The GK Vienna-Southeast was a back-to-back HVDC station linking the electric power grids of Austria and Hungary. It operated between 1993 and 1996.

The plant, built by Siemens AG, had a maximum power rating of 600 megawatts at an operating voltage of 142 kV. It was similar to the HVDC-back-to-back station in Etzenricht, likewise built by Siemens, in its technology. As in Etzenricht, the total number of used thyristors is 864. However, in opposite to the facility at Etzenricht at GK Wien-Southeast not 6 single-phase transformers, but as at GK Dürnrohr 4 three-phase transformers were used. In contrast to in Etzenricht HVDC-back-to-back station, Vienna-Southeast HVDC-back-to-back station was still in operation after the synchronous interconnection of the Eastern and Western European electricity grids, which took place on October 17th, 1995. This had its cause in the fact, that there was no country-wide 380 kV grid in Austria at those days, which would have caused regulation and power flow problems if the power grids of Austria and Czech had been directly interconnected at that time. However in 1996 these problems were solved after the installation of frequency controlling means in coal fired power stations in South Poland, so that GK Vienna Southeast became surplus and was decommissioned on October 31st, 1996. It was planned to be dismantled like the plant in Etzenricht and to be rebuilt in Eastern Europe near the border of the CIS states. However all trials failed and so the components were dismantled in 2007.

On the site the new control centre for the Austrian power grid is under construction.

External links

* [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=48.208333,16.373056&spn=0.09,0.09&t=k Google Maps: Satellite View]
* https://www.energy-portal.siemens.com/static/hq/de/products_solutions/11076_97301_1993%20wien%20suedost.html