Alstom Grid and Tres Amigas LLC have jointly announced that Alstom Grid has been selected to provide their HVDC converter technology for the Tres Amigas SuperStation, a first-of-its-kind power transmission hub that will link America’s three primary electric transmission grids. The project, to be located in Clovis, New Mexico near the Texas/New Mexico border, will enhance the reliability of the country’s electricity network and facilitate the efficient transfer of clean energy between regions, notably interconnecting the Eastern (Southwest Power Pool), Western (Western Electricity Coordinating Council) and Texas (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) networks.

Alstom Grid will immediately begin engineering design for the transmission interconnection which will employ an innovative application of its latest technology in Voltage Source Converters (VSC). Construction is expected to commence in 2012 and the SuperStation is scheduled to begin commercial operations by 2014.

“Tres Amigas has engaged the world’s elite engineering, project management and technology organizations to connect America’s balkanized power grids for the first time ever with the Tres Amigas SuperStation,” said Phil Harris, CEO and founder of Tres Amigas, LLC. “We are very pleased to now include the highly experienced team of power electronics engineers from Alstom Grid as part of the Tres Amigas team.”

“Alstom Grid is one of the leading providers of state-of-the-art HVDC interconnections and we are heavily involved in several innovative ‘Smart Grid’ projects around the world. Our participation in the Tres Amigas SuperStation project will bring decades of experience and expertise to this venture and we are very pleased that our technological solution has been selected,” stated Henri Pourpart-Lafarge, President of Alstom Grid.

Alstom Grid has close to 50 years of power electronics experience applied to the design and delivery of large-scale, high voltage power transmission projects around the world.

When operational, the SuperStation will serve to improve power reliability and solve voltage and stability problems caused by the intermittent generation of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal. It will have significant reactive power capability that can be controlled at each interconnection, improving stability, transfer capability and transmission efficiency.

Based in Santa Fe, NM, Tres Amigas LLC is a business venture backed by a number of prominent investors and partners, including American Superconductor, AltEnergy, LLC, Z Global Engineering & Energy Solutions, Viridity Energy, London Economics, Steptoe & Johnson, Burns & McDonell and Xtreme Power Solutions