The Elbe Project () was the name of the first commercial, static
high voltage direct current
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...
transmission system constructed in the world. The scheme was based on
mercury arc valves.
Experimental installations between
Wettingen
Wettingen is a residential community in the district of Baden in the Swiss canton of Aargau. With a population about 20,000, Wettingen is the second-largest municipality in the canton.
Geography
Wettingen is located on the right bank of the Li ...
and
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
and
Moabit
Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, were demonstrated between 1933 and 1942. Contracts were signed with
AEG The initials AEG are used for or may refer to:
Common meanings
* AEG (German company)
; AEG) was a German producer of electrical equipment. It was established in 1883 by Emil Rathenau as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte El ...
and
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
in 1941, and construction began of a
bipolar direct current line from the
Vockerode power station near
Dessau
Dessau is a district of the independent city of Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 1 July 2007, it was an independent ...
on the
Elbe
The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
, to Berlin-
Marienfelde
Marienfelde () is a locality in southwest Berlin, Germany, part of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough. The former village, incorporated according to the Greater Berlin Act of 1920, today is a mixed industrial and residential area.
Geography
The ...
, in 1943. The line was designed to transmit 60
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s using a symmetrical bipolar operating voltage of +200 kV and −200 kV. Two single-core buried cables with aluminum conductors were used. A piece of the cable used can be seen in the
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...
,
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
.
The southern terminus was south of the Vockerode power plant. The hall built for this purpose (coordinates: 51°50'32"N 12°21'26"E) was later used as a workshop hall for the power plant and today houses some offices. The cable ran from Vockerode via Coswig, Straach, Boßdorf, Kropstädt, Treuenbrietzen, Beelitz, Michendorf, Saarmund and Großbeeren to the northern terminus in Berlin-Marienfelde. This was located in the area between the railway line from Berlin to Dresden, Beißlstrasse (until 1947 Wagemannstrasse), Friedrichsrodaer Strasse and Trachenbergring. The power converter hall built in this area (coordinates: 52°25'39"N 13°22'13"E) now serves as a sports hall. A 30 kV cable was laid from Berlin-Marienfelde to Steglitz substation (near Steglitz power plant), where the transmitted power should be fed into the power grid of Berlin.
A cable with an aluminum conductor with a cross section of 150 mm² and an outer diameter of 52 mm was used for each of the two high-voltage poles, while the earth was used as the neutral pole. For this purpose, there was close to both power converter stations a well equipped with a ground electrode. The exact location of these wells is no longer known.
The system was never put into service owing to the chaos in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
at the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The
Soviets
The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" ().
Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...
dismantled the system as part of war reparation payments, and reused it in building the 115 kilometre long 200 kV
Moscow–Kashira monopolar high voltage direct current line with a maximum transmission rating of 30 megawatts in 1951.
[Kimbark, E.W., Direct current transmission, volume 1, Wiley Interscience, 1971, pp 7–8.] This transmission line is no longer operating.
Sites
References
External links
{{Portal, Germany, Energy
Power Electronics in EuropeModern Power Systems - 100 Years of High Voltage Links, 1 November 2007, retrieved 27 January 2009
HVDC transmission lines
Research and development in Nazi Germany
Electric power transmission systems in Germany