American Electric Power (AEP) chose Siemens to modernize its HVDC back-to-back link at its 600-MW Welsh HVDC station in Titus County, Texas. Siemens will upgrade its 20-year-old system by installing new control and protection technologies, replacing the cooling, heating and ventilation, and incorporating new harmonic filters and shunt reactors. This will be the first Siemens mid-life control and protection HVDC modernization in the United States. The grids of Independent System Operators (ISO) Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Southwest Power Pool have both seen major changes in the way power is dispatched and network operation since the original Welsh facility was installed in northeast Texas.
