The Yanbu-NIC HVDC interconnection is an HVDC Light^® project, enabling development of NEOM in Saudi Arabia with up to 9 gigawatts of power transmission capacity.  Once completed, the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems will have a total power capacity of up to 9 gigawatts (GW) and consist of three HVDC transmission links.

This link, the Yanbu-NIC link, is the first of three links and one of the world’s first 3 GW, 525 kilovolt (kV) HVDC Light^® transmission system. This HVDC system will connect OXAGON, NEOM’s regional development, with the larger Yanbu area more than 650 kilometers away in Western Saudi Arabia. Built with sustainability in mind, NEOM will be powered by 100 percent clean energy, through renewable solar, wind and green hydrogen-based energy.

The project will be implemented in phases, with the first phase expected for completion in July 2027. The first phase will be developed with an estimated investment of $145m.  The Yanbu-NEOM industrial city (NIC) transmission link in particular is set to become one of the world’s first 525kV systems, based on Hitachi’s HVDC Light transmission system.

The project involves the construction of a 605km-long HVDC transmission line to connect NEOM’s logistics hub OXAGON, an advanced and clean industrial city, to the larger Yanbu area in western Saudi Arabia.

The Yanbu-NIC link consists of two converter stations connected via overhead lines, where each station consisting of two asymmetrical monopoles in a bipole configuration, connected to the 380 kV AC grids. The converter stations are designed to deliver 2x1,500 MW of electricity, at a nominal DC voltage of ± 525 kV.

Read the full story at Hitachi Energy