EPM: Aburrá Valley projects

Delays in the construction of critical transmission infrastructure in Colombia is putting pressure on the grid, causing bottlenecks and increasing the risk of potential load shedding. In the Aburrá Valley region, transmission owner EPM identified high grid congestion across three transmission lines which would limit the output of distributed hydro in future years. EPM evaluated several network options to solve this congestion, including reconductoring the transmission corridor with HTLS conductors, before determining that the use of modular Static Synchronous Series Compensators (m-SSSCs) at two substations would be the optimal solution. This deployment of m-SSSCs–SmartValves–quickly and cost-efficiently unlocked 400 MW of capacity to support increased output of distributed hydro and solar generation, without disrupting local communities and the environment. 

Download the case study below for more details on this project.