HVDC Cross-Channel

The HVDC Cross Channel is the name for the high voltage direct current connection across the English Channel. The first connection of this kind went into service in 1961 between the British nuclear power station Lydd and the French static inverter station Echingen.

This scheme equipped with mercury steam valves used, in order to keep the disturbances of the magnetic compasses of the ships as small as possible, a bipolar cable with a length of 64 kilometers, which was operated symmetrically with a voltage of 100 kV and a maximum current of 800 ampere. The maximum transmission power of this facility was therefore 160 megawatts. Because this installation did not meet the increasing requirements any longer, it was replaced in 1986 by a new HVDC line between France and Great Britain consisting of two bipolar submarine cables with a length of 72 kilometers. This line can transfer at an operating voltage of 270 kV a maximum power of 2000 megawatts.