GE Energy will provide two 500 kV series compensation systems to the China Southern Power Grid Co. to increase the power transfer capability of its Louping-Baise-Mawo transmission corridor in southern China, company officials announced last week.

GE Energy’s series compensation systems include capacitors, metal oxide varistors, triggered air gaps, and a fully redundant digital protection & control system based on a GE FANUC programmable logic controller. The series capacitors compensate the transmission line impedance, thereby providing a cost-effective means of increasing the capacity of the transmission lines to deliver power. These systems will be GE’s first in China.

“China’s Southern Power Grid is expected to significantly enhance its power transmission capacity to support the growth on power demand in southeastern China,” said Yu Jianguo, General Manager, China Southern Power Co. Ltd. “The addition of the series compensation system from GE Energy will help us to meet this goal.”

China’s Southern Power Grid covers four provinces and one autonomous region in South China including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan and Guizhou. The total gross domestic product of the five areas is expected to exceed U.S. $720 billion by 2020. and their growing economies will consume a large amount of electricity.

GE Energy (www.gepower.com) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technology, with 2003 revenues of nearly $18.5 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy provides equipment, service and management solutions. GE Energy Rentals, No. 17 on the RER 100, is a division of GE Energy.