Global HVDC Converter Station Market Expected to Have Substantial Growth

Wednesday 22 February 2012, Amsterdam

Drivers, restraints and revenue forecasts, average pricing, market share analysis and sales volumes (in numbers and MW) are covered for the global market. The report covers eight key countries for the HVDC substation market. Revenue forecasts, average pricing, market share analysis, sales volume analysis (in numbers and MW) and major contracts are covered at the national level for each country.

Global HVDC Converter Station Market Expected to Have Substantial Growth

The HVDC converter station market is expected to show considerable growth in the future, as the global demand for electricity is expected to rise. With rising electricity demand in Asia-Pacific countries, the need to transmit electricity over long distances with fewer transmission losses has increased. The share of clean power from hydro, wind and other renewable energy sources in the global energy mix is expected to increase, although power plants producing these sorts of energy are expected to be far away from urban areas. HVDC transmission is expected to be used to transmit clean electricity generated from renewable power plants to urban areas. The cumulative market revenues of the global HVDC converter station market were $12131m over the historic period of 2006-2010. This is expected to increase to $62,475m over the forecast period of 2011-2020.

Developed countries are obliged to supply a specific percentage of electricity from renewable power plants by 2020. This is expected to benefit the offshore wind market in North America and Europe. The offshore wind farm market is poised for impressive growth over the forecast period. Many of the upcoming offshore wind farms are of large capacities and are expected to be built in deep waters, thereby benefiting the HVDC converter station market. Cross-border interconnections in Europe are also expected to increase over the course of the forecast period. Apart from renewable energy obligations, which promote renewable energy trade between different countries, concerns over electricity security and reliability, as well as rising electricity prices, are expected to lead to an increase in electricity trade in Europe. However, many of the existing transmission lines have reached their maximum transmission capacities for which they were designed for. A number of new interconnections are planned between the UK, Germany, Poland, France and Sweden, among other countries. The HVDC converter station market is expected to benefit from these new interconnections.

See figure: HVDC Converter Station Market, Global, Cumulative Market Size ($m), 2006-2010, 2011-2020

China and Brazil: Booming Markets for HVDC Converter Stations

China and Brazil are two of the most important markets for HVDC substations, as electricity demand in both countries is expected to rise sharply. The main driver for the HVDC converter station market in both the countries is the fact that the natural resources for power generation (such as hydro power) are located far away from the load centers where the electricity is required.

China has a number of planned HVDC projects to be executed over the forecast period. For instance, many new large scale hydropower plants are expected to come online in the south western region of China where hydro resources are abundant. HVDC transmission systems will be used to transmit the electricity from the south western parts of China to south eastern areas such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Over the period 2011-2020, the cumulative market revenues from the Chinese HVDC converter station market are expected to reach $13,975m.

Brazil, meanwhile, is planning to construct large hydroelectric power plants in the northern and northeastern regions of the country. Even though most of the new high capacity hydropower plants are planned for the northern and north-eastern regions of the Amazon forest, the greatest electricity demand comes from the industrialized south-eastern part of the country. HVDC transmission lines are expected to carry the electricity generated from these large capacity hydropower plants to cities such as São Paulo. Over the period 2011-2020, the cumulative market revenues from the Brazilian HVDC converter station market are expected to reach $10,927m.