Mancunian order for ABB

ABB has won a $76 million turnkey substation contract with the UK utility, National Grid, to strengthen the power supply southeast of Manchester.

ABB

has won a $76 million turnkey substation contract with the

UK

utility,

National Grid

, to strengthen the power supply southeast of

Manchester

, one of

England

’s largest cities.



ABB will replace an existing outdoor 275 kilovolt (kV) substation now nearing the end of its service-life with an indoor substation based on compact, gas insulated switchgear (GIS). ABB said in a statement that GIS technology will reduce the size of the installation, currently as big as four football pitches, by 90 percent.



As well as replacing the 45-year-old 275 kV air insulated switchgear (AIS) substation, the project includes reconfiguring overhead lines coming into the substation, as well as system reinforcements. An adjacent 400 kV AIS substation will also be extended.



The new GIS substation is scheduled to be operational by November 2008; all remaining work is to be completed by February 2009.