PCCA Journal 1st Quarter 2014 - page 29

PCCA Journal|1
st
Quarter 2014
29
Continued on page 30
charge of the FERC’s crack-
down on Wall Street for energy
market manipulation. Before
joining the commission, he
was a Professor of Law at the
University of New Mexico
School of Law, where he taught
Criminal Law, Evidence, and
Constitutional Law. He served
in the Department of Justice
from 1989 to 2001, the last two
years as the U.S. Attorney in
the District of New Mexico.
Research Explores
HVDC Transmission Lines
A
lthough alternating current (AC) lines have been
the dominant form of electricity transmission for
decades, the adoption of high voltage direct current
(HVDC) transmission is growing worldwide. Up to
twice as efficient as AC transmission, HVDC allows
interconnection of regional systems that operate asynchronously,
helping to mitigate instability issues that otherwise cause outages
in AC transmission. According to a recent report from Navigant
Research, 110 new HVDC lines are planned or are currently under
construction and will be completed worldwide by 2020.
“Growth in electricity demand, transmission system congestion,
and grid instability are all helping drive new demand for HVDC
transmission systems,” said Kristoffer Torvik, senior research analyst
with Navigant Research. “Approximately 333 gigawatts (GW) of new
HVDC transmission capacity will be added between 2013 and 2020,
including nearly 200 GW in China alone.”
Helping to drive the expansion of this market is the increasing
need for integration of new renewable resources, particularly off-
shore wind power. Several governments in Europe have established
frameworks and even stipulated offshore wind targets. In turn,
utilities are implementing aggressive plans for offshore wind devel-
opment, creating a market demand for advanced, offshore HVDC
solutions.
The report, “High-Voltage Direct Current Transmission Systems,”
analyzes the global market for HVDC technologies and provides an
analysis of the market issues, including trends, drivers, challenges,
opportunities, and regulatory factors, related to HVDC systems. An
inventory of HVDC lines in construction or planned is used as a
basis for the global capacity and revenue forecasts, which are seg-
mented by converter type and region and extend through 2020. The
report also examines the key technologies and roadmaps associated
with HVDC systems as well as the competitive landscape. An Execu-
tive Summary of the report is available for free download on the
Navigant Research website,
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high-voltage-direct-current-transmission-systems.
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